Springdance Trouble
by TaiKaze
Summary: AU!Human form everyone!Even when they are not green, our heros end up batteling the shredder,but not for revenge this time,but for Karai!Can Leo win her heart? Will Don ever find love? Can Mikey be serious for once? And can Raph see whats infront of him?
1. The Hamato Brothers

Springdance Trouble

The Hamato Brothers

Sometimes, Leo hated his brothers.

Most of the time he loved them, being family and all that, but sometimes he wouldn't mind being an only child.

Raph tackling him out of his bed in the morning was one reason.

"Get up sleepy-head! Your turn to make breakfast! I'm starving!"

Don hogging the bathroom was another.

"Sorry!" He called through the door "Really 'gotta go! Take the one downstairs!"

And of course, Mikey leaving his stuff EVERYWHERE was another issue.

"WAAH! OUFHH! OUTCH!!"

"Oh! Watch out for my skateboard bro!"

Lying flat on his back in the hallway after tumbling down the last three steps Leo glared up at the ceiling silently cursing the terrible fate of having three brothers. Why couldn't he had been an only child, like Casey, or have a much older sibling like Angel down the street? Sighing he picked himself up and moved through the hallway for the bathroom. On his way he peeked into the kitchen.

"Huh? Dad? What are you doing? It's my turn to make breakfast!"

His old gray adoptive father turned and smiled, putting down a carton of eggs on the counter.

"I'm just preparing for you. Go wash your face now son."

Leo smiled and, as always when Splinter spoke in that calm voice, his anger vanished.

"Okay! But don t start until I'm back! The others will just complain that you're picking favorites again!"

He heard Raph banging on the door upstairs, accompanied by Mikey's pleas to let him into the bathroom. Apparently Don was taking to much time doing his business. Hoping that his brothers would not remember the other bathroom too soon, Leo locked himself in and threw his pajama shirt in the laundry basket.

Rest assured, on a school morning the Hamato-household was the loudest on the block.

Splinter had long since given up trying to make his sons behave during meals. As long as the food went from their plates to their mouths without detours, he let them rampage all they wanted. As years went by they had calmed down a bit, (actually remaining seated most of the time) but still it was hectic around the dinner table.  
With the beginning of High School, the old man decided that his sons should take turns in preparing meals, in the dire hope that they might learn to respect the hand that fed them.

No such luck.

"You're too slow pretty boy!"

"I want scrambled eggs!"

"Where's the milk?!"

"Will you three shut up and let me finish making the bacon?!"

"Aahh! The toast is burning!"

"Then get it out of the toaster, Mikey you pea-brain!"

"Leo, can you crack the window?"

"You do it, Don, I'm busy!"

"I think it's still good! Hey, Raph, pass the jelly!"

The aging man just sighed and sipped his tea.

Eventually, however, the four brothers made their way towards the door, leaving the house in the same order that they always did.

Don left first. Eager to get to school he jumped on his bike and flew the ten minute walk the the local high school.

Leo left after him, usual on foot. He liked to treat the way to school as an opportunity for some light meditation and enjoy the scenery.

Raph usually left earlier than he needed to so that he had a margin of roughly five minutes or so for chit-chat just in case he bumped into someone on the way. Someone like Casey or that little kid Taylor that used to hang around him (or Mrs M. on the corner, though he denied it). How he noticed anyone while roaring around on his motorcycle was beyond his father.

And of course Mikey didn't leave until Splinter reminded him that if he didn't leave on the second, he actually WOULD end up having as many hours in detention as Raphael usually had.

And when the house was finally empty Splinter would clean up the kitchen, light an incense stick, and say his prayers in front of the little shrine in the living groom dedicated to his good friend (and the boys biological father,) Yoshi, and also their mother. Afterwards, he would go out back and ready the dojo for the yoga-classes he held in the after- morning.

Just like any other day, Raph and Leo bumped into each other in front of their lockers, arriving almost precisely at the same time. They would amiably share whatever news had occurred in the last ten minutes. Leo, as usual, had to remind his brother what particular class he would be sleeping through first period.

Separating when the first bell rang (sometimes crossing paths with a stressed Mikey trying his best to make it on time) each individually moved towards their classrooms.

However, Leo had a private morning ritual that his brothers did not know about. In fact, there was only one other person in the whole school that knew about it, and that was purely by chance.

In between his locker and most of his morning classes, he had to pass through the center corridor. Even though it wasn't required, Leo took the extra minute to do it. It was worth it.

Today she was, like most days, dressed in grays and black, wearing a light blouse and dark pants. Her straight dark hair hung freely around her face. Leo paused a little by the water fountain, shuffling his books a bit so no one would wonder about his motives, and glanced at her.

Oroku Karai was the school's dark beauty, one of the top three most popular girls simply for her looks alone. She was the daughter of a company president, way to rich for a school of commoners, but she had insisted to attend a public school, wanting to feel like a normal teenager. Still, everyone knew who her father was; he appeared on TV at least once a week, donating this and rescuing that, so it was hard for her to feel normal.

Lucky for her (and Leo) there was a person in the school who didn't give a rat's ass about status or money.

"Come on princess or we're gonna be late!"

"No need to rush me Coral. We have a few minutes."

Now Coral Tetsu (Actual, her first name was Sango but she insisted to be called by the English interpretation) was nowhere near Karai; not in beauty, social status or physical ability. If they hadn't been attending the same karate-club after school, they would assuredly never have met. But they were, and that was just it. Coral had a life-long reputation of being a meddler. If someone in her vicinity was in trouble and she thought that she could somehow help, she would. So of course Coral had noticed Karai not talking to people, never smiling, and going home in a black jaguar, alone. Almost immediately she started pestering the poor girl to no end until Karai caved and they started walking to school together and sitting together at lunch most of the time.

The irony here was that Coral had attended Splinters martial-arts classes when she was little and had been (of course) friends with the Hamato brothers since childhood. Her sharp little eyes had immediately pin-pointed Leo's little routine, figured out its purpose and (under the threat that Leo would tell on HER crush) promised that she would never tell Karai she had a secret admirer (or, at least, not that it was Leo).

So when Leo's eyes met Coral's that day in the hallway she winked and slipped her arm around Karai's waist and made a huge fuss over never being able to get to the classroom on time in such high heels and, with that, dragged her of in a way that forced the other Asian girl to skip a bit not to fall. Leo made a note to mention to Coral T. that he wasn't all that interested in watching Karai's hips move like that, but scratched out that idea upon the realization that Coral would retort to saying something along the lines of;

"Oh? In what fashion WERE her hips moving? Do tell, I wasn't watching like you!"

Rolling his eyes a bit at his imagination, Leo wandered away to his first class.

Being as close as brothers can be, they always ate lunch together. While it was still warm out they preferred to meet up at the south side of the building where it was warm and open. Until that very year the four brothers were joined by Casey and April, but both of them, sadly, had graduated. So when Mikey had a guest with him they where, of course, very enthusiastic.

"So what's your name sweet thing?"

"Raph please don't hit on my new friend!"

"Sorry Mikey, just a bit surprised you landed such a cutie!"

"Do excuse our brother. Feel free to join us."

"Why thank you!"

The girl had the biggest red hair any of them had ever seen, complete with a zillion freckles all over her little nose and round cheeks. Heck, she even had them on her skinny arms and legs. She did as Donatello had suggested and sat herself down in between him and Leonardo, leaving a bit of room for Mikey. Leo smiled. Mikey always made new friends quickly.

"To answer your question, I'm Susie Honeycutt! I'm in Mikey's P.E. and social studies class."

"I think you're in biology now that I think about it…" Raph muttered through a mouthful of food.

"Hm? Oh yeah! You're that guy that professor Heckler always yells at for everything!"

Raph squirmed a bit under Leo's glare but shrugged it off, being the cool guy he was.

"I asked her to join us since she doesn't really know anybody. Besides, eating alone is so boring!"

"Nice of you bro. It s always fun to make a new friend."

"Hey, let me guess who you guys are! Mikey talks about you a lot!"

Mikey gulped a bit when his brothers shot him a couple of suspicious looks.

"I only said nice things! Well, mostly nice things…"

The read-head rubbed her chin in an overly dramatic manner and looked them over.

"You have got to be Raphael!"

"What gave me away?"

"He told me never to be alone in a room with you!"

Mikey "eeked" melodramatically and took cover behind Don when a hamburger wrapper was tossed his way. The other three laughed and Susie pointed at Leo.

"You are Leonardo! He always says you don't own a shirt that isn't blue!"

More laughter and the girl turned her big chestnut eyes to Don.

"And that leaves Donatello, the smartass!"

Don glanced down at his brother who was still not willing to give Raph a clear shot should he happen to have more trash projectiles.

"Ehe...Well you are Donny! Don't deny it!"

"I agree with Mikey!"

They turned to the newcomer.

"Why? Do you even know what we're talking about, Coral?"

"No, but I'm assuming that whatever Mikey's saying you DISSAGREE with. Correct, Raphy my boy?"

Raphael grunted as the raven haired girl squished herself in between him and Leo.

"You agree with him just 'cause you think I don't?"

"Yeah!"

He glared at the others when they tried to cover up their laughing and then back at Coral with a smirk.

"To bad, I agree with him for once, Don IS a smartass!"

Coral boldly took a handful of his French fries and stuffed them in her mouth.

"Yeah I'd have to agree to that to!"

Ignoring Raph's protests, Coral went on to presenting herself to Susie and stealing a sip of coke from Leo.

Leo, for one, didn't really mind. They usually got free food from her once a week or so. Coral had a habit of showing up Fridays or Saturdays with her arms full of food from her parent's restaurant down the street, full of announcements of parties, sleepovers, et cetera. Leo just leaned back a bit and tuned out the conversation, enjoying the comfort of the company. He made a point to partially listen to Susie so he wouldn't seem rude, but she and Raph seemed to be just as noisy as Raph and Mikey. They did look cute, Susie and his littlest brother, sitting side by side and ganging up on poor Raphael.

When the bell rang and they started to break it up Leo tugged Corals arm a bit and asked quietly if there was any news of Karai. She smiled a bit, shaking her head over the young man's obsessing with her friend, answering'

"She's going out with Hun today, so she'll be leaving when he gets out of detention."

Leo gulped a bit as memories of Hun weighed like a heavy iron ball in his gut. Why did Karai have to be dating the scariest thug in the whole neighborhood?

Hun was the biggest guy in school, he repeated seventh grade twice, and everybody knew he was part of the Purple Dragon gang that wreaked havoc upon the city from time to time. Splinter had specifically forbidden them (i.e. Raph) from ever getting into trouble with the blond-haired behemoth.

So naturally Hun was the leading cause Raph had so much detention. Just as Raph was the reason Hun had so much detention. Before Casey had gone to college, it had been Raph and Casey against the giant gang leader, but without another man to watch Raph's Leo worried constantly. He also figured that things would not get any better if Hun found out his favorite adversary's brother had a crush on his girlfriend. He already had a problem with Coral spending so much time with Karai (It didn't help that Coral was the only girl who had actually kicked Hun in the nuts and lived).

Leo sighed.

"Don't worry, hon." Coral said, reassuring. "I don t think she likes him. I just can't figure out why they're dating!"

"Don't bother Coral, I don t stand a chance whether she's single or not."

Sarcasm bit; hard.

"Yeah, 'cause I'm not at all worried that my friend is dating someone she doesn't like!"

The blue-clothed boy glanced at Coral. She had that incredulous look on her face saying "Why are you a coward only when it comes to Karai?!"

He smiled a bit and shrugged, making her grunt and roll her eyes before smacking his shoulder and loudly declaring to the others that she was going on ahead.

Leo watched as his oldest friend made her way over to the roof-covered area where he knew Karai was having lunch with that mountain of a boyfriend of hers. When he thought about it, Coral could have been rather pretty. That is, if she ever brushed out her black hair, maybe grow it out past her shoulder blades, and put on something that wasn't covered in grease and oil from both cooking and fixing MCs. Maybe she wasn't as pretty as Karai, but it was a close call.

"Oh, and did I tell you?" Donny said from up ahead, "I got a new lab partner! She seems really smart and we're already talking about what to do for our project!"

"Geez! Do you EVER shut that brain of yours off?"

"You know I don't. That's such a stupid question, Raph."

Walking back with his brothers Leonardo wondered a bit over why none of them had ever taken a serious interest in girls before entering high school. Was it a genetic trait? Splinter had mentioned that their biological father had been a bit of a late bloomer. He wondered if it would have made a difference if they had grown up with Yoshi and their mom. Not that it mattered. Both of them had died in an accident when the four were only little. One of Leo's first memories was playing ninja on the porch outside the dojo with Splinter. Imagining life without the old man was almost impossible.

A whack to the back of his head brought him back.

"Oi! What cha' dreaming about pretty-boy?"

"Don't hit me so hard Raph you'll give me a concussion!"

"Then don't go of to la-la-land in the middle of the day ya ditz!"

At least chasing Raphael into the school building threatening him with everything from posting his baby-pictures all over the halls to pouring sugar in his tank did blessedly clear Leo's head a bit from the thought of Karai.

That was probably why it gave him such a heart attack when he bumped into her outside the detention room.

Cursing under his breath for forgetting what Coral had told him at lunch, Leo forced out a smile, excused himself and tried to bolt. Raph was a big boy; he could find the way home on his own.

"Hey," She addressed him in her soft, smooth voice. "You are friends with Coral are you not? You live in the little red house a block away from her restaurant, correct?"

Surprised that she knew who he was as that she had even noticed that little squished-in building, like a matchbox compared to the houses around it, Leo gulped down the lump in his throat and tried hard not to blush.

"Y-yeah I'm Hamato Leonardo."

She smiled. God, couldn't she hear his heart beat against his ribcage? It was so loud in his ears.

"I am Oroku Karai."

Yeah, like he didn't know that already. Leo rolled his eyes internally

"But," she continued sweetly, "I assume you know that."

Damn it. Why was his throat so dry?

"Errm...you here to pick someone up?"

He already knew the answer but Leo thought that he might as well try a bit of conversation. Hey, it was the first time he had actually spoken to her!

"Y-No!"

He blinked a bit. Yes she was; she was picking up Hun. Why did she…?

"And you?"

"Oh! Well my brother got into a fight, so I'm gonna lecture him a bit on the way home so Splinter won't chew him out too bad. He cuts them a bit of a slack when I tell him I've already done it…so yeah..."

For Christ's sake sop rambling about your idiot brother!

But she did smile a bit before cocking an eyebrow.

"Splinter?" She enquired softly.

"Erh...He's our dad! Well, actually, he's the adopted brother of our real dad but he and mom died so he took us in and I don t know why we call him Splinter..."

Wow, what a run-on

She actually laughed. Well, _that_ part must have sounded ridiculous.

"I am sorry Leonardo. May I call you that?"

Her voice was like the wooden panels in the dojo, dark, smooth and with the feeling that there was something burning inside of it.

"Eh? What for? I'm the one rambling! And sure, call me Leo..!"

"You may call me Karai then. People tend to get nervous around me... I am sorry..."

Damn she was pretty. At least his heart had stopped bumping crazily out his ribs.

"Ok...Karai."

Even prettier when she smiled, oh God!

"Cannot believe we have not spoken before," she said, still smiling quietly to herself. "We seem to have a friend in common."

"Yeah well, we hang with different crowds after all. It's a given."

"Is that an invitation? I do miss Coral when she chooses to spend lunch with you guys."

She wanted to eat lunch with them?! Well, with Coral, but still! You take what you can get!

"Sure! Our crowd's gotten a bit thin since Casey and April graduated. And like Donny always says, it's nice to make new friends!"

He scratched his neck a bit nervously.

"Donatello is your other brother? He is the one with the short, dark hair?"

She seemed awfully well informed about his brothers. Was that Corals work?

"Mh…yeah! That's him."

Her face sank back a bit, like she wasn't used to smiling for long periods of time.

"Well, you seem a bit… as you say, less freaked out."

Oh right! The people being cautious around the school-princess part!

"You're easy to talk to, once you get a chance..!"

"Yes. It is quite refreshing when people have the guts not to run away in panic like most do."

"I think it's more that you're too beautiful to be true then anything else."

What? Rewind. WHAT did you just say?! Straight to her face?! What Leo? What did you say?

"Wh-ah?" Her beryl eyes grew huge and her normally impeccable grammar deteriorated slightly.

Luckily, before she could finish her stuttered question, the door between them slammed open.

"SWEET FREEDOM!! LATER SUCKERS! HAHAHA!"

Raph kicked the door shut with a cocky grin and turned to blink questioningly at the two blushing teenagers standing in the hallway.

"Eh, Leo?"

"There you are," Leo cried with knee-jerk reaction "Let's get home. Splinter is going to be all over you when he finds out that you got into a fight again, you idiot! Come on!"

Smooth, real smooth. Drag your brother of talking so much he don't have time to ask what the hell all that weird shit floating around was. At least, not until Karai was out of hearing-distance.

"Leonardo?" she called out quietly, questioningly.

Can't just ignore her, can you? So Leo turned around.

"Ma-may I still join you for lunch tomorrow?!"

She still wanted to? Even though he just...?

"S-sure! Bring Coral!"

Around the corner, the leather in Raph's jacket causing his right hand sweat a lot more then his left.

"Ok...?" He said loudly once Leonardo was available. "Since when are you buddies with Hun's girlfriend?"

"Since right now! And she isn't just Hun's girlfriend, you know! She's a friend of Coral's too!"

"But that don't change the fact that she IS Hun's girl and mainly my problem wit' that is that he tends to murder guys who come to close to her! I have enough problems with him as it is!"

"Well sorry for making your hard life a bit more complicated!"

"Leo..." Raph said, softening just a bit. "You like her?"

That shocked him. Honestly, Raph noticing something like that? He almost stumbled over his own feet (would have if his brother hadn't caught him.)

"Wha...why? I don't...it s just like...I mean I don't _dis_like her...I mean...!"

"Who the hell are you and what have you done to my big bro?"

The dark voice took him back a bit, but not more then the choice of words. Raphael never admitted the Leo was older unless one of them was in a state of heartbreaking emotional toil. That, or he could blame Leo for not doing his job as the fearless leader.

"Raph..."

"Shit, Leo! When did this happen?!"

"Let's... Let's talk at home, ok?"

"With Mike and Donny backing me up? Is that smart bro?"

"I'm not the smart one and I really need to get out of here!"

So maybe there was a reason Raphael was tugging him down to earth with the big bro line, maybe. If nothing else it might be the fact that his hand was shaking. Raph loosened his grip on his jacket and threw his arm over Leo's shoulders.

"Ok bro...Let's go home."

And to think that this morning Leo had been mad at him for something so tiny as pushing him of the bed. Stupid.

"Leo is in love with WHO?!"

Maybe not so stupid.

"Oroku herself! The school's very own ice-princess!"

Leo kicked his longhaired brother a bit for the double princess comment. Not that it discouraged Raphy in the slightest. Oh no, just added fuel to the fire.

"Caught them in the weirdest tension outside detention! Where you guys about to kiss or what?"

It was a bad idea to go home and do this. Maybe he should listen to Raph more often.

"No...I just said something weird right before you opened the door, that's all."

Leo leaned back against the wall, mashing one of Don's pillows behind his back. Don's room was the best spot for the conversations they didn't want Splinter to hear. His room was furthest away from the stairs so they usually caught his step before he could open the door. Private conversations became more often over the years. If it was because the brothers where getting older or because their father was, they didn't know.

"What did you say bro? Did you ask her to marry you or something?"

He looked at them. This was probably the first time they had a conversation about something like this. Frankly, it was a bit awkward. Suppose that's why they where making so many jokes, to lighten the atmosphere, and to not to think so hard about what Hun would do if he found out. They had heard the various Hun-stories from Casey. This house would burn pretty nicely with all its wooden panels and paper sliding doors.

"No I just told her she was too beautiful to be true."

Silence, then snorting, then outright laughter.

He kicked Raph again, mostly because he was the closest. Don was sitting backwards in his chair, arms around the back. Mikey was on the floor, absent mindedly going through Donny's games. Raph was on the bed with him, by the foot end, sitting in full lotus position. He let them laugh. Sure, it had been pretty stupid, but he didn't need them to tell him that. He needed them to...to be there! Yeah. He could face anything (even Karai, even Hun) with them by his side. As long as they were with him, he could do anything.

"Well, I suppose we'll help you win your ice-princess then! Right bros?"

Don and Raph glanced at Mikey; then nodded. Their brother needed them. They would fight ATILLA the Hun for him. Leo smiled. Tomorrow didn't seem so frightening anymore.

"Then keep your cool tomorrow, cause she's joining us for lunch!"

"Will do bro! Just one thing..."

"What Mikey?"

"Can I have your room? I'm still sure it's bigger than mine!"

Leo threw a pillow at his younger brother.

"I'm not going to die! And no, IF I die, Raph gets my room!"

"Eh? Unfair! Why?"

"Cause he's gonna be the one to look after you two! Not that you guys will last long without me!"

"All in favor of dog-piling Leo?"

"AYE!!"

"Guys?! Three against one is cheating!! No Raph get off!! Let go of my leg!! No Don don't tickle...!! GUYS!!"

That night they all curled up against Splinter as the old man sat at the low table in his study. They took the pillows and blankets from the couch and made a nest about him, like they used to when they where little. He looked at them in confusion, but smiled and said nothing. The four of them fell asleep to the sound of rustling papers and each others' heartbeats.


	2. A Good Day

A Good Day

Lunch actually wasn't as awkward as Don had feared. Karai was quite a nice person (a bit arrogant but, hey, she was a millionaire.) At least, once you got her to come out of her shell. For once Coral backed off and was very quiet during most of lunch, letting Mikey and Susie stand for the entertainment (i.e. bugging Raph until he chased them in circles around the others).

Donatello had invited a guest of his own, Sidney Clearwater, his lab partner from biology. Leo had suggested it, thinking it would relieve a bit of tension if there where two newcomers instead of just one. It worked wonders and by the end of lunch hour the four girls were in the middle discussing something girly and the brothers watched in amazement, wondering how they understood each other when they where all talking at the same time.

Must be some girl-thing.

"You're insane! Ain't she insane?! Tell her Donny!" Sidney flashed her big eyes at Don and flipped her page-cut dark hair.

"Ehhhr, girls," Don said nervously "I don't even know what you're talking about." They all sighed simultaneously (scary the way chicks could do that) and went on to talk in each other's ears again.

His brothers laughed and Donatello dramatized wiping the sweat from his forehead in relief, making them laugh even harder.

Afterwards, the shy young man walked Sidney to her locker, which was around the corner from his own, and she admitted she was surprised the Karai was such a nice person.

"I just wish I had hair like hers," Sidney tucked her own short hair behind her ear with her tanned hand and sighed mildly.

"Why?" Don asked quizzically "You look nice like that!"

"Really?" She looked skeptically at him, wondering if he was going to start laughing at her.

"Yeah," he started, stuttering a bit, "I mean, Karai looks nice and all that, but you look better the way you are"

She smiled.

"So you like the way I look?"

"Well, yeah"

"Donny?"

"Hm?"

"Do you have a date for the spring dance?"

He then decided to prove that it is, in fact, possible to fall over nothing.

"Wah?!" he cried, stupidly, "How did we switch to THAT subject?!"

"I did, just now!"

"Why?"

"Because I'm trying to get you to ask me to go with you! Boy, for a smart guy you sure don t get it do you? I've been hinting it to you for a week!"

The "duh" in her voice was perfectly obvious.

He blinked at her, trying to stand up straight again from falling against the lockers. She wanted him to ask her out? For real? Him, Donatello?

"Why me? I'm ME!"

Sidney slapped her hand over her face like that question was the dumbest thing she had ever heard. He just didn't get it. Girls liked him BECAUSE he was him.

"I mean, you're smart and nice and funny. You can get any date you want! Apparently not, though… you're still single."

Donny leaned back against the wall next to the lockers. The other students where moving around them, hurrying to class like they should be doing, but this was more important than English and Home Ec. He forced himself to calm down, clear his mind, and focus on what was in front of him, just like when he sparred against Splinter. Who knew that martial arts training could come in handy in times like these? She wanted to go with him. The spring dance was the biggest event of the year. Well, except graduation. The person you went with would automatically be labeled your partner for the rest of the year. And she wanted to go with him? For real?

"You want to go with me?"

"Well, you have to ask properly to find out."

He gulped, but a smile tugged in the corner of his mouth when he realized that she did the same thing he always did in a pinch. Joke about it. Relieves the tension. He knew she was stubborn, he knew she was sharp and a bit of a fighter. She would not give up easily. Donatello took a deep breath, pushed himself up from the wall, gently took one of her hands from clutching the books to her chest, and took his best shot.

"Sidney, will you please come to the Ice Cream Plaza with me today? There is something I want to ask you…"

Sidney rolled her eyes and tried to pretend her heart wasn't in her throat.

"Great strategy," she said sarcastically, "stalling for time." He beamed at her.

"Well, I want to do it right!" he protested laughingly. She squeezed his hand a bit and smiled back. Donny continued, "Okay…But it's my treat! Splinter would ground me forever if I made a lady pay for herself!" She giggled and was going to let go of his hand, but he had another idea. He gripped it a bit tighter, lifted it a bit and then kissed her on her knuckles.  
The only thing redder then her face was his own as he squished out a "Later!" and almost ran into the corner to fetch his book and hurry to class.

"Don's got a girlfriend! Don's got a girlfriend! Don's got a girlfriend!"

"Are you gonna do that the whole way to class?"

"When he stops, I'll take over!"

"Thanks, Raph, I can feel the love." His brothers just laughed and Mikey threw his arm over Don's shoulders and gave him half a hug.

"Well," Mikey said amiably. "We picked on Leo yesterday, so now it's your turn! Yeah, and it's sorta funny how the two of you managed to get girlfriends within a day of each other!"

"Who s got a girlfriend?" Leonardo asked from behind. The three turned around to face their big brother, two with big grins on their faces. "And why is Don looking like he's going to be executed?"

"Duh, Because Sidney bullied him into asking her out!"

"She's the least of my problems," Don protested from underneath his brother's arms "It's you who're tormenting me!" Leo grinned knowingly, walked up between him and Raph, hung himself over Don's shoulder, and patted his back.

"Poor little brother. So what are you going to say?"

"Well, I _do_ like her…. She's good-looking and we have the same kinda humor and I can't really find a reason to say no…"

"Ahh," Raphael said dryly "Now both Leo and Donny've got girlfriends! It's almost sad to let you guys go to your beautiful bride-to-bes!" Raph hung himself over Leo and completed the wall of brothers heading for the only class they all had together.

"Raph, I don't have a girlfriend."

"Then what's Karai huh? 'Just a friend?' Come on bro, fess up!"

"She's taken, dude," Leonardo protested, "And I'm not going up against Hun, that's your job!"

"Dude, I've seen 'em together, and that is not what I call a relationship… at least not a healthy one."

"Hey we picked on him yesterday," Mikey piped up, picking up a different, Hun-related topic. "It's Don's turn remember?!

The conversation turned to a flurry of almost unintelligible words, voices almost blending into one.

"Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me, Mike."

"Yeah, thanks Mikey."

"Sidney Clearwater, huh? Quite the catch, bro!"

"Leo, have a bit of mercy now, please!"

"Nuh huh! This is payback!"

Donatello sighed. Music class was gonna suck.

Music was the only class that all for brothers had together. Realizing pretty early into the year that they could use that to their advantage, they figured out a plan.

"Hey, Mr. Northton, we're here, may we have the keys?" Thomas Northton was one of those teachers that didn't like grades, tests or anything of the like. He was an artist and believed that you should be able to create at your own pace and in your own way. That, of course, was why he had been thrilled when the Hamato brothers had asked if they could start a band during his dedicated teaching hour. It would beat being stuck in the classroom learning the basics of all the other instruments, and bands got their own rooms for practice. Ah, peaceful bliss for the hippie teacher, and some major rock-out time for the kids. The only downside was that they had to perform sometime during the year to actually get their grades, but the four boys were mostly fine with that. They all wanna be rock stars after all, yadda yadda yadda, typical teenage nonsense and whatnot.

"Sure Raphael," the teacher cried, far too enthusiastic for any regular teacher. He tossed the keys with a unexpected around-the-back throw. "Catch!" Raph caught them deftly.

Northton had long since given up at trying to call them by last name, as he typically did to his students. They where three to many for it to work.

"Thanks! Will you come by and listen later? We practiced."

"Will do, just gonna get all the other vagabonds moving." They smiled and left the crowded classroom, heading for the small practice room. The four had decided to perform at graduation, a hefty task to begin with, and the date was coming up in a flash. Now, understand they weren't the world's greatest rock-band, and they would probably never make it all that big, but it was fun, and it was something they did together.

"Okay, one, two, and three. Hit it Mike." They had Mikey on drums, of course, Raph on bass, Don strumming away on the guitar and Leo on vocals. Usually they did covers for songs they liked; an easier setup then writing their own lyrics.

Don tuned his deep mahogany-red guitar, fingers moving smoothly over the strings. Music and science where so close, it was perfect. Math was such a big part of playing an instrument. The location and length of the strings carefully calculated, the notes put in a harmonious order, the rhythm of rock mimicking the pace of human heartbeats. That is, of course, why most people liked it so much. Still, Don didn't tell his brothers about the link between music and science. They would just shrug and imagine their poor, pitiful brother sinking deeper and deeper into the depths of nerdiness. For a moment, Don found it easy to forget his over-hoping girl-troubles during the ninety minutes that they could spend arguing over who was off-beat and voting down Mikey's frequent requests for a drum solo.

By the end of the period, both Leo and Don felt better after releasing their stress in some seriously crazy guitar playing and screamy singing sessions. The four left the keys with Mr. Northton and separated again for the last period (with many a "good luck on your date"'s for Don.)

As the last bell rang after his math class, Donatello he started thinking he needed all the teasing support. He shuffle/gathered up his books and waved off the teacher's concerns about his health, (he had been spacing out the whole class) and left his books in his locker before taking a deep breath and rounding the corner.

Ice Cream Plaza – 4:00 P.M.

"This is going straight to my thighs you know!"

"Oh please, you can t possibly worry about your figure, Your gorgeo… ahem!" Donny stopped mid-compliment and lowered his eyes. Sidney smiled and twirled her spoon between her fingers before sticking it into the pile of frozen dairy products. One thing she liked about Donatello was that he always made sure to voice his opinion, even though he was a bit to shy to even make a full sentence.

"I'm what Don? Please, do tell." Naturally that made teasing him all the more fun. However, Donny was no push-over, he could stand his own against the formidable evil of girl-power; another great asset.

"I said, 'You don't need to worry. You're gorgeous.'"

"Aw! And here I thought that I could tease you a bit more before you admitted it!"

"Sidney, please, have mercy! I'm gonna have a heart-attack." He looked down at his ice cream, "And this particular food isn't helping my current cardio state."

"Okay, alright! I'll drop the act. I won't have people going into cardiac arrest on my watch." He smiled at her, taking a bite from the hot fudge Sunday that sat between them. Frankly, both of them were nervous. Better yet, each KNEW the other was nervous! It made conversation skills more… shall we say, difficult. Okay, let's say it how it is. It made coherent sentences completely impossible, but Don had one thing to say and he was determined to say it.

But first he had to ask

"Why me?"

"Hm? What about you?"

Wow, that sounded selfish. He knew what she meant

"Well, why would you want to go out with me?"

She licked a bit of cream from her upper lip (Holy shorts that was sexy! "Curse adolescent hormones," Don berated himself) and thought about it. After what felt like a million years, she answered, slowly.

"Guess 'cause I like you."

"Well, yeah, that much I figure…but why ME? I'm the nerdiest guy in school, trust me, my brothers make sure I hear that one every day.

"That's not very nice…"

"Oh…" Don started, rubbing the back of his neck and trying to look nonchalant. "They're such a bunch of weirdoes themselves, it's hard to be offended." Sidney gave his casual shrug a skeptical look. He sighed and explained.

"Well, Leo is our self-proclaimed leader. Raph used to have a problem with it until he figured out that it meant that he could basically, like, blame him for everything that went wrong. At least, that's what Raph says. But the bottom line is that Leo is, like, our mom!"

Holy smokes that sounded awkward! Donatello mentally smacked himself over the head with his thickest edition of Science Magazine. Sidney, in turn, snorted and took another bite. Don decided to continue in spite of all odds.  
"And Raph, well, he's a nutcase! He's my brother and all, and I love him, ya know, but he's a total wacko! Always picking fights, and if he can t find anyone to pick one with, he finds something else to punch."

Here she nodded. Raphael was famous throughout out the school for his infamous manners.

"And then Mikey, oh gosh, ehh…well he's Mikey! Always the wise-guy, always coming up with crazy ideas, always hurting himself with some insane trick or digging up something totally weird! Just last Christmas he brought home a kitten, and do you know what he named it? Kitty? forget that, too normal. He named it Klunk"

"Aw," Sidney paused a moment to squeal through a mouthful of ice cream. "That's so cute!"

"Look, he always wanted a cat named Klunk. Don't ask me why."

She was so pretty when she laughed. He had noticed that at last year's science fair when she won third place. Actually, that was about the only thing he remembered, (except, of course, that _awful_ hologram project that he had done.) Maybe he had been a bit in love with her all this time, but who knows? At any rate, it was pointless to ponder over that now. First things first. Donny swallowed and gulped another breath.

"You're really pretty when you laugh."

The abrupt statement took her aback a little. Don knew his face was red (he had said it far too loud and everyone sitting around them was looking oddly at him, clearly thinking "STALKER.") but seeing as she blushed along with him, he didn't really care. The bashful boy sent a quick prayer to his parents for strength and reached out and took her hand.

"Actually, you're pretty whatever you do, so don't worry about the ice cream. Just enjoy."

She stroke his palm with her fingers and dimpled cutely.

"My, my, what a silver tongue you have there, Hamato Donatello."

"He he," he laughed, this time genuinely. "Mikey isn't the only one who has a way with words!"

"So… you asked why I liked you."

Flinch flinch. He'd forgotten about that. Sidney bumbled on, clearly self-conscious.

"Well, I don t really know. Maybe because your just insanely cute, or because your, like, smart, nice… er… inventive. Maybe because You're so sweet and kind to everybody, no mater what, or because you're so focused and ambitious. Just a little bit shy and a little bit bold…"

Don didn't really know what to say to that superlative speech, so he just stared at her, mouth open and gaping like a goldfish. The girl across from him giggled softly and put her other hand on top of his.

"Maybe," she whispered, only loud enough for him to hear. "It's all of the above."

He couldn't help it, he really couldn't. Before Don knew it he had leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. Just gently, just a peck, but a kiss nonetheless, and (marvelously), before he could retreat, she kissed back, fingers lacing into his.

Okay, so day turned out way better then expected. Lunch had not been as horrible as predicted, (Wow, Karai, nice? Do those two words even fit into the same sentence? And Sidney…ahh, so sweet and… wait, we'll not go into that.) His brothers had not made THAT much fun of him (but then again, he still had to go home) and Sidney Clearwater was, furthermore, his girlfriend. Oh, and before he forgot!

"Hey," he said, "It's a month to the dance, so do you wanna catch a movie this weekend?" She smiled.

"Sure, why not?"

Yup, Even if his brothers teased him when he got home, best day ever!

Thus were Hamato Donatello's thoughts until they bumped into Hun on their way out of the little ice cream parlor. Don did what he usually did when Hun was around; head down and keep moving. Just blend in, don't run, don't stare, just slip by unnoticed. Too bad it didn't work this time.

"Hey you runt!" Hun rumbled, apparently trying to show his male dominance through feeble insults; lame. The next action was more convincing. Donny felt a big hand on his shoulder as he was brutally turned around while the gigantic blond lowered his massive upper body a little closer to the ground.

Wow, now was _really_ not a good time for a blonde joke.

Don gently shoved Sidney back a bit. She didn't have to get caught up in all this. It was probably about Raph, as usual.

"You squirt! You're one of the Hamatos right? Your Raphael's little loser-brother!" Don fisted his hands. He could let cruel comments slide when said by family or friends, people that he knew loved him for being him, but Hun said it to hurt and that made him angry.

"And what if I am?" He spat back, as venomous as an adder. "If you have business with my brother, please, take it up with him personally." He could hear Sidney gasping a bit behind him. She was scared and, to be honest, Don was a bit frightened as well. However, Splinter had trained them well, and even if he wasn't Leonardo, he could manage a little talk with Hun. As long as that huge hand stayed on his shoulder, he was safe (sort of.)

"It's not Raphael I'm concerned about at the moment, you moron." Hun growled evilly. "It's your OTHER big brother, Leonardo."

Donatello flinched a bit, remembering. Hun was the possessive, jerkface boyfriend-type. Perhaps he had not approved of Karai's little lunch-adventure? Don sighed but spoke back with vehemence.

"Again, please take it with him." Out of the four, Donny knew that he was the worst fighter. Not so much lack of skill as lack of drive, but still. He had better things to do with his hands. At times like these, though, it didn't hurt to be able to defend oneself. Or others, for that matter. "Now, please let me go, Hun. I have things to do." The meaty hand almost crushed his shoulder as Hun shook him.

"Don't you mouth of to me! Tell your brother to stay away from my girl, all of you!"

Don was a Hamato, he had to speak his mind.

"Karai came to us. Maybe she's growing tired of your company, Hun!"

"You little… I'll just leave the message myself! Somewhere where they are sure to see it!" Hun drew back his other hugely massive hand and formed it into a fist, aimed right for his captive's nose. Sidney shrieked a bit behind him and Don was actually thankful. Now he knew exactly where she was. He shrugged, grabbing Hun's wrist with both hands. Had to get his feet into position, relax his shoulders, weight on the hip. He calmly waited until the fisted hand began to move, then smiled and twisted his body around, still holding on to Hun. He pressed his back up against the giants stomach and bent forward. The power of Hun's own punch became the power by which Don threw Hun over himself and flat down on his back. Basic martial-arts/physics. He looked down on the fallen thug. Hun; sidewalk-fried, over hard.

"I can beat Raph three out of five times." Don stated, not a hint of gloating in his voice, Only the facts. "And I'm much better then him at handling bigger opponents. Please take that into consideration next time you decide to harass me OR my brothers."

With that he stepped over the huge arm, took Sidney by the hand and walked away.

"Wow," said Sidney breathlessly. "That was so amazing!"

"Nah, I was scared to death, really." As soon as Hun was out of sight Donny let his knees buckle and took a deep and shaky breath.

"You didn't look it!"

"Well, I guess that would only have an encouraging effect on him. His whole point of doing what he did was to scare, both me and my brothers. Didn't work though."

"Can you really beat Raphael?"

"Well I have to make him angry first so he forgets to put up his guard, so I don't do it that often, but it's doable!" She snickered and wrapped her arms around his as they walked on.

"My hero!"

Ok, still the best day ever.

"Lower your shoulder, or you will hurt yourself."

"Aye aye captain!"

"Good, now kick!"

Coral was probably the worst student Karai had ever seen. She was focused and determined and all that, but she had little or no talent for the finer martial arts, being more of a thug. The only thing she had actually managed to master were her kicks; strong, precise and well balanced, but kicks would not move her up the ranks. Then again, Coral did this for fun and to learn control, not for the glory. She didn't get frustrated staying in the same league for a year or two, for Coral actually preferred to move slowly, though she would never admit it. Still, it was Karai that had to show her best friend everything over and over and over. Then again, neither of them minded that much. It was nice, the little ritual they had two days a week, staying behind the rest of the class, practicing and talking about things they did not want others to hear.

"Just dump him! I still don't get why you went out with him in the first place!"

"It is…complicated."

"No it's not! Complicated is an excuse people use when they don't want to face the facts. Nothing is as complicated as people make it out to be, Karai.

"Just because you see the world in black and white does not make it so."

"I don't, and don't get all preppy Japanese English-grammar-Nazi on me again, or I'll slaughter you. Anyway, the world is full of colors, but it s not the colors that matter, it's the designs!"

"Relax your shoulders or I will end up hurting you."

"There you go again! Shutting me down just when I try to talk to you. Snap out of it! You don't always have to talk like an old master from those tasteless ninja movies, and you know it. You hide behind your foreign origin so people will leave you alone. I still can't _believe_ you pretended you couldn't speak English to that cute guy on the ski slopes…"

Karai held up a hand, sensing a rant coming on. She paused a moment before answering Coral's previous question, choosing to ignore the past few minutes.

"I cannot just walk away from him for no rhyme or apparent reason."

"Sure you can, he never does anything for you. Just tell him you're not some trophy and that he can shove it! Better?"

"A little, but you have to move your feet. Next time I will be tripping you. Even if I did say so he would still be domineering. And father…"

Karai stopped and bit her lip, chewing on it worriedly. Coral rolled her eyes

"Leo's a big boy, he can stand up to Hun!"

Karai opened her mouth to protest that it wasn't a matter of physical force (if so she would have battered the hulking behemoth to the floor moths ago.) Karai gasped when Coral's hand connected with her floating ribs.

"You managed to hit me…Brava."

"That's a first!"

"I was distracted. What does Leonardo have to do with anything?"

"Girl, you're blushing like an idiot so don't deny it." Karai just rubbed her cheek and looked away. Damn that girl for knowing exactly what she was thinking all the time.  
There was a worry in her heart, a tiny needle of fear that she couldn't overcome. Once, when she and Coral had first become friends, the mahogany-eyed girl had stated that she would drag any and all secrets out of Karai's carefully protected shell. In retribution, Karai had pinned her new friend to the floor and returned the favor.

Now, Coral was a complete failure at keeping her own secrets, answering first and thinking later, so it didn't take long for her jade-eyed friend to find out that Coral had but one secret that she didn't want anyone to know. She was, like most teenage girls, in love.

"Who is it, Coral? Do tell."

"Let go of my arm! God, this floor stinks!"

"I will not let you go until you tell me something"

"Okay, okay! Stop twisting my arm you brute! It's one of the Hamato brothers okay. I won't tell you which one, now let me go!"

Hm… Coral DID talk a lot about Leonardo. A LOT about Leonardo.

Karai feared that she and her best friend had fallen for the same guy, and she didn't like it one bit. To be honest, she couldn't fight Coral on that plane even if she had wanted to. Coral was a long-time friend of Leo's, she was happy, she didn't hide herself from the world, always so open about everything and when she dressed up and fixed her hair, she was even pretty. Karai didn't stand a chance. No, if Coral wanted Leonardo, she would have him. Coral stood and brushed herself off, oblivious.

"I got to get home. Ma and Pa will need help during dinner-rush and I need to eat first, But we'll talk about this tomorrow! I'm coming over after lunch!"

"Sango"

Coral stopped halfway to the doors, looked over her shoulder, and turned. Karai had only used her birth name once before, and that had been ugly.

"What?"

"Leonardo?"

"Beg pardon?"

"Is Leonardo the brother that you like?"

Coral sighed and let her bag drop to the floor before she walked back to her friend and put her arms around her sinewy shoulders.

"Dearest sister-of-my-heart, is that why you've been hesitating? Because you thought I liked him?"

"You are saying you do not?"

"Don't get me wrong now, Hon, I like Leo a lot! He s a good friend and I don t want to lose him from my life for the world, but he's not the one I love, so don t worry about me!

Karai hugged her friend back, showing an uncharacteristic display of affection. Suddenly breathing was so much easier, the path ahead of her ever the more clear.

"Thank you, my sister in spirit." A pat on her back and then the embrace ended, Coral picking up her bag and opening the door.

"You should talk to him you know."

"Leonardo or Hun?"

"Both! Soon!" And the doors swung close.

Karai ended up sitting in lotus position in front of the little shrine in the dojo for hours. She just looked at the smoke from the incense flowing past the lit candles with deep, somber eyes until all of them burned out. Then she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She needed to move, stuck in a bad place for so long. She thanked her Ancestors (whomever they might be) for blessing her with her brutal friend that always knew what to say to fix her broken soul. Karai stood and walked out to find Hun.

[A/N: I hate this chapter...it just wouldnt re-upload after Chao beta-ed it! grr! but its here now so i hope you forgive me and i hope its a bit better now when its not a wall of text! XP]


	3. A Rats Tale

(Sorry dudes and dudets! i thaught id uploaded this one! guess i forgot! dont worry! chapter four is halfway done! so enjoy! ^^)

A Rat's Tale

"Wow…"

Raphael stared at the person outside the door. Now that was an unexpected guest.

Saturday was family-day. It was the one day when Splinter wanted them at the table for lunch with the rest of the afternoon free. Raph knew that when you're the third year in high school, spending Saturdays with your family was a bit corny, but heck if he should care. He actually liked it when Splinter loaded them into the old truck they had in the garage (that Don pimped from time to time) and drove them to different places. When they where little they would go to the zoo or the Amusment Park or the aquarium, sometimes even to the beach or the woods. Now they went to the movies or convents or the like. But it was still the day when the five of them did something all together. And even though he'd sigh and mutter he did like Saturdays. He loved his family, and seeing Mikey run around like a mad puppy was more amusing then any TV-show he could watch instead. And Donny had gotten his driver's license so they didn't have to fear Splinter driving them off the road anymore.

And when they got home they'd go out in the dojo and train. Splinter would keep them going until they were out of energy and full of endorphins before he let them go inside and clean up. After that they either made dinner or Coral would show up with it. The day usually ended in a doggy-pile in the living room in front of some three-in-the-morning-movie. Yeah, he liked Saturdays.

Coral was working today so they where just discussing what to make by way of food when the doorbell rang. As uninterested in cooking as ever, Raphael volunteered to answer it.

He stared at the onyx-haired girl for a few seconds, smiled, and before she could explain what she wanted he turned and yelled.

"LEO! It's for you!!"

"Who is it?!"

He just grinned and waved at the girl to come inside and went back to the kitchen, passing Leo on the way. Leo on the other hand stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the guest who was just removing her shoes in the foyer, apparently used to the Asian custom.

"Karai? W-what are you…? I mean, why are you…?"

"Coral gave me the address, she said I should…talk to you…" Karai looked down, suddenly self-conscious and embarrassed.

Before Leo could ask her to repeat herself, the rest of his family stormed the hallway, Splinter arriving first with his little icicle-shaped cane ticking against the floor after every step.

"My my…We have a lady visiting us! And quite the beauty at that…"

Leo felt like he could just sink through the floor. Were all fathers like that? Oh well, it made her smile her perfect, gorgeous smile, so he could forgive Splinter for saying something so incredibly old-fashioned.

"My name is Oroku Karai.," She said quietly, ever the soft-spoken one. "Excuse me for intruding on your home."

She completed the polite greeting with a deep traditional Nihon bow. Leo smiled a bit and glanced at his father to see if he was impressed with the introduction; almost a word to word translation of the usual greeting in his homeland. The boy was a bit surprised when he noticed that Splinters smile dropped for a moment and a wrinkle formed between his huge grey eyebrows. However, it was gone the next second when he smiled again and bowed back.

"Hamato Splinter. Welcome to our home. I take it that you are a friend of Leonardo's?"

Leo was about to say that they where just acquaintances when she nodded and replied gently,

"Yes. I came to talk with him, if it is not too much trouble?"

"Certainly not, we can spare him. Still, are you in a hurry? It would be delightful to have a young woman accompany us for dinner as a nice change."

"So," Mikey added mischievously, "You're saying that Coral's not a woman?"

Splinter shot a playful glare over his shoulder at his youngest son.

"Coral might be a girl, but she is no woman yet. Come on in, sweetheart. We're having _oden_ and there is plenty to go around."

Karai met Leo's eyes for a heartbeat, as if asking permission, then looked away before her cheeks turned red.

"If it is not too much of a problem…"

The brothers smiled and assured her they didn't mind while Splinter led her into the large kitchen. Leo noted his brother's face-making at him when Karai wasn't looking, but he just smiled, too pleased at the turn of events to care one bit.

"So you are Oroku Saki's daughter?"

Karai looked up at Splinter's suddenly hard, inquiring face as she sat down among the hustle and bustle of food-making

"Well, to be honest, adopted daughter, but yes; it is so."

"I see, I see…"

The old man sat himself down in the only chair with arms and leaned his cane against the wall beside him, seemingly deep in thought.

"Do…do you know my father, Hamato Splinter-San?"

There was that little wrinkle between his eyebrows again, and Leo started to think that there was something that bothered his father about their surprise visitor.

"I know of him. Actually I have met him once."

"Oh? When?"

Suddenly, his father looked old, so old.

"A long time ago. I'd say…Fifteen years back, give or take."

All activity in the kitchen suddenly came to a halt, all eyes turned to the old man.

"Where did you meet?" Don's hunger for information forced him to ask.

"In Japan, just after your parents died"

Suddenly the awkward silence in the room became a lot thicker. None of them could really bring themselves to ask why. Luckily, they didn't have to.

"It is a bit amusing that you would become friends with my sons when you were so close to becoming siblings when you where children."

They needed a few seconds to process this information.

"WHAT?!"

Splinter smiled a smug smile and put his fingertips together.

"I think this is a story better suited for desert. I suggest you four start cooking."

The brothers grunted in unison and jumped to it, knowing the old man well enough to know that nagging would only prolong the wait.

To hours later, they sat themselves down in the living room, eyes glued at Splinter and cups of tea warming their hands. Leo sat next to Karai and thought of how gentle she had looked when she first entered the room and had taken the time to bow shortly in front of the little shrine with the pictures of his parents on it.

"Ahh. Now, where was I?"

"We could have been siblings…?"

Splinter smiled at Don in a way that told them that he had remembered well, and that he was only building up suspense. Don in his turn sipped his tea quietly; sitting on Karai's other side in the sofa. Mikey sat on the footstool and twisted back and forth in excitement. Raph was occupying the huge armchair next to Splinter's. Even though he had on his "I don't really care" face, Leo knew he was just as exited as Mikey.

"Oh. That is right."

Their father placed his cup on the table, crossed his legs and folded his hands in his lap before he started, false storyteller's hesitance in his voice.

"Fifteen years ago, your father; my master Yoshi, and his wife Sheng where lost in a terrible accident. I've told you four about that before. For you Karai-San, I'll add that I'm only an adopted Hamato. I was taken in from the street only thanks to Sheng and Yoshi's kindness. I owed them my life, my very existence. Before I met them, I was no more then a rat, stealing and wandering from place to place."

She nodded and glanced at the brothers who all had turned their eyes to the floor, like they didn't want to think about the suffering their adoptive father had been forced to endure. Splinter continued.

"I lived with them in Yoshi's father's house in Japan for many years. The two of them grew up to be fine people, as kind and as honorable as saints, it seemed. Still, they were human. About a year afterwards Sheng blessed master Yoshi with four sons…"

He paused to ruffle Mikey's hair, and they all smiled back at him. Splinter's voice suddenly grew sad.

"…They died; having driven over the edge of a bridge and drowned one cold night, leaving these four all alone in the world. Now you see, master Yoshi's father was a wealthy man, skilled in many martial arts styles, and he had helped master Yoshi to build a company for the export of all different kinds of Japanese artifacts, hoping to make better connections with Western civilization. He and a good friend of his managed to create one of the biggest companies in Japan."

He looked Karai squarely in the eyes.

"'The Foot' is the name of that company."

Karai jolted almost guiltily at the name of the very company that put food on her table and clothes on her back.

"My father was friends with Hamato-san?!" she cried uncharacteristically.

"That is correct. Of course, after the accident he offered to take in his friend's orphaned sons."

"But…?"

Master Splinter held up a gnarled finger; wait, it said.

"However, not two days before the accident, master Yoshi had asked me to be their guardian. He had trusted me with the most precious things he had, and I was not about to let him down. I owed him everything, and I wanted to repay him in this small way."

There was steel in the old man's eyes. Even though he was the shortest and frailest-looking in the room, Karai felt that there was no arguing with him. His determination was stronger then anything.

"So I took the boys, with their grandfathers blessing, and moved here to New York, as master Yoshi had planed to do before he died. And the rest is history."

The old man stroked Mikey's hair again, softer this time.

"I never regretted that. I know it was a bit selfish, but I could not let go of the only family I had left."

The four boys where silent and Karai guessed it was because she was there. Typical teenage boys, being totally unable to act on their feelings in times like these. Oh well. Splinters little smile told her that he knew his sons loved him, even if they shared no blood, and that they would not have traded him for any father in the world. She wiped the corner of her eye and took a sip of her tea.

"That…Why didn't you tell us this before?"

There was a hint of anger in Raphael's voice, as well as disappointment.

"Because there is a lot to this story that you four are to young to hear"

The old man sipped his tea and smiled a bit at the mutters and grunts from the boys.

"In time, I will tell you. But you are far too young to comprehend the essence of it now, so please, patience."

Then he stood, placing his empty cup on the small wooden tray.

"Well then, I shall go tend to the dishes."

Don caught the hint in his voice and gestured to Mikey. Luckily, he caught on

"And I'm going to…Clear the next level at that new Ninja game…!"

"Not if I beat you to it!"

Don smiled and shoved his little brother up the stairs.

"I'm not even gonna bother with an excuse… I'll be in the garage."

Raph punched his brother softly (for Raph) on the shoulder and left. Leo sighed and rubbed the sore spot. Then he too stood and looked at Karai, who stared, forlorn, into her cup.

"Do you…" Leo started, then stopped, clearing his throat. " Do you want to see the dojo? We cleaned the garden last weekend too, so now it looks really nice."

She smiled softly.

"All right. I would like that."

The garden really did look radiant. Splinter had made the four of them spend an entire weekend fixing it up after the past winter. It had been long overdue and by Sunday evening it was back to its exquisite self; the small pond with the little artificial spring leaking down a couple of dark rocks, the peach and cherry trees that were starting to bloom, and the thick moss that surrounded the pale smooth steppingstones that made paths between the house, the dojo and the little door in the fence that the students of the dojo used.

The dojo in itself was a masterpiece. It took up half the garden but it was so simple and elegant that it did not matter. The wooden planks where oiled and dark, worn down from the many feet that had trod over them, the sliding door paper screens patched with little cutouts of animals and flower petals to cover the holes the four boys had made as kids. Inside were holders for a vast collection of Asian weapons, katana, bo-staffs, nunchaku, zai and the like. Karai let a ornate scabbard slide under her fingers as she admired the collection.

"What a beautiful katana…"

Leo smiled and walked over to her on his bare feet, the wood ever so familiar to him. He could find his way in here in the dark; Splinter had made sure they learned that.

"Actually, that one is a ninjaken, or a ninjato. Unlike a katana it's straight, see? And the hand guard is square and the blade much shorter. They where used by ninjas and they aren't as heavy or even that well made. Usually they where made from broken katanas or the like. They where used mostly for assassinations. Unlike the katana, it's not a slicing weapon, but a stabbing one."

Karai held up a slender finger, grinning ferally.

"However, according to Bushido, any weapon one becomes familiar with holds the Spirit of the Samurai. A.K.A. – katana.

And so smart, too!

Leo unsheathed the blade and twirled it a bit in his hand as he spoke. He gripped the handle and caressed it a bit. He remembered the day that Splinter had allowed him to start training with blades instead of with shinai. That had been one of his proudest moments.

"You seem to be fairly familiar with how to use it…"

He grinned at her and flipped it in his hand again.

"It's my choice of weapon. So far, none of the others in my family save Master Splinter can beat me while I hold two of these!"

"You and your brothers are all trained in weaponry? I assumed it was only martial arts."

"No, we're all trained in ninpo, the way of the ninja. We can use almost any weapon, but we have our preferences. Take Raph, he likes the sai best. It gives him the option of punching people without letting go of his weapon. And Don likes the Bo-staff because it's the most non-lethal, and it keeps a good distance from the opponent. Mikey likes the nunchaku, 'cause it's good for playing the drums he says. And sure, he does do a wicked solo with them!"

Karai could not help but to laugh at the image. It was easy to see the youngest Hamato using an ancient weapon for something like that.

"I am assuming he is the one your father scolds the most?"

"Well, mostly for his lack of focus, but among the four of us, Mike is the stealthiest one. Hard to believe, huh?"

"Indeed. Are you... joking?"

"Sadly no. We can't beat him at hide and seek, even three against one!"

Her jade eyes seemed glued to his face, wide in surprise. He gulped a bit and looked away, searching for something to talk about. Let's stick to Mikey. He could make people laugh whether he was in the room or not.

"And…I think he's the one with the most talent. You know, like he's born with it."

"What makes you say that?"

Leo looked up at the wooden section of the artillery, counting (even though he did not have to, for he knew by heart) the ones marked with a line of orange, the color his youngest brother had chosen when they where staring weapon-practicing so many years ago.

"Well, because he's just as good as the rest of us using weapons that are harder to master I guess. Part from the nunchaku he can handle the tonfa and the three section staff. I've tried it. It's like holing a snake by its tail and trying to make it bite your opponent instead of yourself! I don't get how he makes it look so easy."

She looked up, now starting to notice the different colored markings on the objects. It only took her only a few seconds to figure out what they where for.

"Aha, I see. When you master a weapon, your master marks it. Orange for Michalangelo. Red for Raphael. Purple for Donatello. And for you…"

She gripped the other sword, handle wrapped entirely in blue silk rope. Leo finished her sentence for her.

"Blue…Easy as pie. It was Splinter's idea."

She looked it over a bit, noticing the change in material.

"Silk?"

"Yeah. It was my birthday gift last year. Don got that maple-staff, Raph those manji-zai and Mikey got that three section over there."

He pointed them out to her, a fond look on his face, telling her about the different objects, the history, material and who amongst them was the best as using it. This really was his essence. He knew already what he wanted in life. He had known since he was a child playing on these dark floors. He was the oldest Hamato son. He would carry on the legacy, even in this land so far from its origin.

Perhaps with her by his side? Was it to much to hope for? Was he allowed to dream that little dream? Perhaps not, but it didn't keep him from longing for it.

Leo started to think while they sat on the porch, watching the light fade over the rooftops that surrounded the little garden. She sat so close, and even though they hadn't spoken for quite a while, the silence was comforting. The same way it was when Mikey sat on Leo's bed and read comics, or when Don joined him and meditated, or when Raph, on rare occasions, would stop tinkering with his bike and just sit there in the garage and accompany Leo's guitar with the red and black bass. That comforting silence when words are just in the way. Just as he closed his eyes to the last sunrays, she leaned her cheek against his shoulder. Leo's heart skipped a beat (if not several) and he glanced down at her raven hair and slowly lifted his arm a bit and put his hand around her slender yet muscular shoulders.

Her only reaction was that she pulled a little closer, cuddled up against his side. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and rested his chin against her hair. It was soft, glossy, and smelt a bit like the food at the Golden Tortoise.

"Been to Corals lately?"

"Hum? Why do you ask?"

"You smell like gunagdong dumplings."

Karai snickered almost evilly.

"Coral finally learned to make them just right. She invited me over for lunch to have a taste."

He smiled and gently stroked her hair, remembering Corals fast determination to carry on her family's tradition. In many ways, Coral was like himself. She wasn't a master chef yet, but by the time Leo inherited the dojo, she might be. Life is so much easier when you have a dream to strive for.

Leo was a little bit disappointed when she sighed and sat up straight, breaking him out of his reverie.

"Leonardo, I need to talk to you…"

Okay, he knew that that phrase was bad when you where dating, but before? He had no idea so he just nodded, turning about so he faced her, placing with his leg up on the porch step.

She bit her lip and fidgeted her hands in her lap, like she was losing her nerve. He held out his hand and placed it over hers, stopping their twisting movements. She looked at him in confusion, then took a deep breath and spoke softly.

"I believe my father is not as good a person as he makes out to be."

Okay, that was random.

"Ehh…What do you mean? He's like, a model citizen right? "

"That is just it, Leonardo. I believe it is just a sham! I have started to notice it lately; Hun and his thugs hang around the house even when I am not there, shady businessmen coming and going in the middle of the night, and I'm not allowed on the 13th or the 24th floor anymore, as well as the basement on pain of certain dire punishment. It is also many other things that I cannot really put my finger on, things that just seem wrong in some way."

He hated seeing her so upset. The little wrinkle between her eyebrows, her fingers that were back to twisting around each other, and the worried look she had when she gazed out over the yard. He wanted her to smile again. He'd do anything to see her beam radiantly or hear her yielding mockingbird's laugh.

He took her hands again, grasping them tightly. He moved a bit closer and spoke softly.

"Don't worry. It'll be all right. We'll figure out what's wrong and, if we have to, we'll stop him. Don't worry. I'll help you."

Suddenly, Karai's beryl eyes filled with glassy tears and she looked down, trying to hide her face in her hair. She squeezed his hands almost painfully and choked upon her tears.

"Thank you Leonardo…Arigatou Gozaimasu. I am sorry…I did not know where else to go…Coral would just panic and I…I do not have any other friends that I can trust with this…I am sorry…"

Just then, Leo realized that this was probably much more then just suspicions about gangster affairs or illegal money transfers, this was bad. Really bad. She was terrified, and had been for a long time, not knowing who to turn to. She was right about her friend. Coral was a lot like Raph in that department. "Rampage a bit and problem solved" was a logic they shared with Casey.

Not knowing what else he could do, seeing her desperately trying to stifle her dry heaving and stop shaking, Leo suppressed the fear that he might be doing something that could ruin his relationship with her forever and reached out and pulled her in, hugging her against his chest. She gasped a bit from the sudden movement but he held her close, like he had with his brothers when they where little and the shadows outside the windows became too scary to forget. He rocked her a little and breathed slowly in her hair.

"It will be okay," he assured soothingly "Don't worry. It'll be alright. You'll see, things will be okay. Just relax."

Eventually she leaned against him, breathing slowing down, growing more even, tiny hands grasping at his shirt. She told him in a low voice about the little things, explained the small details that made her uneasy about her father's strange behavior. Leo listened attentively, trying to figure out how to solve this, how get her away from the danger before it was too late.

"Thank you, Leonardo."

"Don't mention it…I haven't actually done anything yet."

"You did not drive me away. That is enough for now. I'm grateful that you are speaking with me at all."

She took a deep breath and sat up from him a second time, rubbing her eyes to free them from tears. Leo gently took her head in his hands and rubbed her cheeks with his thumbs, drying away the salty drops. Even when the glistening trails were gone from her hollow cheeks, he kept his hands cupped around her face, stroking her raw-boned face with his fingers, unable to let her go again. Karai closed her eyes, hiding the glimmering orbs, leaning a bit into his touch. He let his fingers tangle in her silken hair, and slide down her neck. For a heart-stopping moment, he pressed his tear-wetted thumbs against her velvet lips. Karai's eyes popped open, caught his with the precision of a viper, and within them was a dare, a challenge. _Do you have the guts to take the final step, Leonardo?_

Let it be known that no Hamato (save maybe Mikey on occasion) had ever backed down from a challenge. True, at first Leo just brushed his lips against hers, still not one hundred percent this was what she wanted of him, but she did not move away, so he kissed her more deeply. Her mouth opening to him and her fingers lacing themselves in the hair at the nape of his neck was all the encouragement Leo needed. He wrapped his arms around her tiny waist, pulling her as close as he could, until she was almost sitting in his lap, her arms around his neck. It was unimaginable how amazing her lips felt, how good she tasted, even; like warm vanilla spicecake. Leo shuddered involuntarily.

Lonardo had kissed girls before. Nothing to it really. Somehow, though, this was different. Everywhere her skin brushed his felt like electricity had run over his skin, making his mind going almost blank. He had wondered sometimes what it would feel like to kiss her perfect mouth, but this was way beyond anything he had ever imagined. It was just too bad that kisses apparently turn off honed ninja awareness.

"LEO!"

The paper sliding doors flung open to reveal his youngest brother, barefoot and panting. Mikey's jaw dropped to the floor when he realized just how bad the timing was. Karai flung herself backwards and busied herself with straighteningout her ruffled hair, trying not to look at either of them. Leo grunted and glared daggers at his little brother, who was currently muttering something about owing Raph a dollar.

"Mike!" he yelled, more angrily than he meant, "What did you want?!"

"Oh yeah, Leo come quick! Splinter is…"

He bit his tongue and glanced at Karai who had stopped trying to act reserved and looked up when she heard his panicked voice.

"Karai's dad is here to pick her up…"

Somehow it sounded more ominous then it should have. The things Karai had just told him rushed through his mind as he got up. He held out his hand only to notice she had already moved up and towards the sliding door. Mikey let her pass with a worried look.

"Will you be okay?"

She turned to the brothers, strangely calm and resolute

"Do not worry Leonardo…I will be fine. Let us go..."

With that, the three of them hurried inside to find a tense atmosphere, two nervous brothers and two fathers looking like they were having a staring contest on either side of the doorstep. Leo took the time to look Oroku Saki over properly. He was a tall, (for his Asian origin) middle-aged man, thin, well-marked cheekbones, a bit more blue shades to his dark hair then his daughter, and narrow, cold eyes, currently fixed on Splinters dark grey-green ones.

"Father? Why are you…?"

"Get in the car, Karai."

He didn't even look at her, even as she came closer, her eyes marked with fear. Splinter a fixed the much taller man with his gaze, knuckles white from his hard grip on the cane, face just a mask of disgust and anger. It was the first time the boys had ever seen him like this. Splinter was rarely angry. Whenever they actually managed to get on his bad side, he would be more disappointed then angry, and that hurt them a lot more than any yelling or screaming could have. He had never looked at them with a look of such pure hatred as the one he now gave the man in the doorway. It was scary.

Karai had yet to move, startled by the scene and the anger in her father's voice. A nerve under Saki's eye twitched, and he repeated.

"I said 'get in the car, Karai!' Did you not hear me?"

His voice was deadly calm, and Karai just stood there, eyes wide and somewhat glassy.

Saki finally looked at his daughter, and attempted to step inside to grab her and pull her out onto the sidewalk.

"STAY RIGHT THERE OROKU! I WILL NOT HAVE YOU IN MY HOUSE!"

Oroku Saki stepped back a bit, taken aback by the obvious anger in the old man's voice. Even his sons reacted, Don stepping up a step in the stairs, Raph ducking in a bit behind the doorframe into the living room, Mikey hiding behind Leo's back even as the oldest stepped back from shock. They had never heard Splinter raise his voice like that before. Saki growled under his breath, hissing at his terrified child.

"Hurry it up girl. As you hear, we are not welcome here."

Karai finally moved, aiming for her shoes. When she passed Splinter, however, he grabbed her arm and said softly, with his eyes still on the businessman outside the door.

"You are welcome here, Miss Karai, at any time, for any reason, as Leo's friend. Just leave your father at home."

She nodded despondently, pulled on her shoes and moved for the door. For a moment, Leonardo was convinced that Saki was going to belt Karai across the face, but finally he turned away and stepped down the steps towards the street, his daughter in tow. Leo sneaked past Splinter and out on the concrete steps, not really wanting Karai to leave after she had just told him how uncomfortable she was in her father's company. But then she turned on the last step, climbed back up on light feet, and gently kissed him on the lips. Leo heard Saki making a disapproving sound, but it was muffled out when she spoke quietly.

"May I join you for lunch on Monday?"

He smiled, a bit of his anxiety melting away.

"Sure thing."

"I will see you then…"

"Yeah."

Then, she was gone, down the steps and into the car, being driven away. Leo just stood there with his hand on the door, looking after her, completely unaware of Splinter's worried look and his brother's silent amazement. At least, that is, until Raphael broke the silence.

"HA! TOLD YA! Pay up Mike!"

The oldest brother snapped back to reality, shaking his head of the fuzz that seemed to have lodged itself inside as Mikey complained about the loss of money and closed the door. As he turned around he found himself caught in the gaze of his father. Though it was not as hard or angry as the one he had given to their unwanted guest, it was still piercing and Leo couldn't help but to squirm a bit and lean against the door, feeling a little like a trapped mouse. Eventually his father looked down, closing his eyes and sighing.

"Perhaps…It would be best, if I told you four the whole story in spite of your years…"

[A/N: I had to do a bit of research to freshen up my info on Asian weapons and I found out that one sai is a Sai and two are Zai…so it's not misspelled…! ^^` And the part about Leo's swords is just something I've been dying to point out forever, since it's NOT a katana… Karais sassy coment is the glorius work of my beta Chaofriend, who is probably one of my most favorite persons in the universe! Mikey is, honest to whatever god you believe in, the champion of the brothers' hide-n-seek games in the 2003 TV-series, and he uses all the weapons mentioned above throughout the different versions of TMNT. I thought that that was amusing so I put it in! XP The kissing-scene was originally only six sentences (including him drying her tears) but Kim made me write more and Chaofriend fixed it up so it's a bit less stale…That was what took so long! I suck at romance! Let that be known! Next part coming up!]


	4. The Sons Of Saints

Sons of the Saints

His back hurt. His front hurt. His head, chin, feet, stomach. They all hurt.

At least his hands where numb by now, even if they where hard to move. He could barely feel anything at all in them. If he died, would the pain would stop all together? In that case, he should just stay still. Actually, it probably didn't matter at this point. This was as deep shit as one could get into.

So he didn't move, just barely opening his dark, muddy eyes as he looked up at the young man in the police-cadet uniform standing over him, sword in hand. The old man's subjugator pressed the tip of the shining blade harshly against the vein in his neck.

"I'll teach you to steal old man! Say your last prayers!"

What god would hear them? he wondered silently. Better not bother, in case the gods were angered by his plea. He was, after all, just a rat in human skin.

As the sword rose to the dark night sky, a scream was heard from the backdoor of the main house. A woman's voice.

"NO! NAGI, DON'T!"

A young girl, fifteen or sixteen years of age with long thick hair, a round face, and wearing a blue and white kimono rushed out to stop the young man. She pushed him aside and kneeled down in the dirt beside the older man, the one who had tried to take the bunch of vegetables she had left out by the door.

"You poor thing. You look absolutely famished! Come inside, I'll make you something warm to eat. Can you stand? Here. Lean on me."

The man was trying to understand the turn of events, though it was more difficult than expected. He couldn't remember the last time someone had spoken so kindly to him. But then again, he could not remember much of anything.

"Are you insane Shen?!" the man called Nagi cried angrily. "He's a criminal, not some stray puppy!"

The young woman's eyes snapped and burned fiercely at the young cadet as she put the old man's arm around her shoulders to support him.

"I remember what it was like to starve, Nagi, even if you do not! Not everyone is as blessed as we are! Either move out of the way or help!"

The heavily muscled youngster chose to move, swaying a bit in indecision. His eyes were cast low, unable to meet the girl's steady gaze. Shen moved past him without another word. The old thief found him self herded into the kitchen, seated at a low, steady table and served a bowl of hot stew and rice. He hesitated for a second, looking up through the graying strains of dirty hair that covered his face. Then, as she smiled at him, he dove at the hot food, gulping it down almost faster then he could chew. The girl, Shen, laughed and filled his bowl a second time, assuring him that the meat he swallowed so desperately was quite dead and would not run away, even if he took his time eating.

"Besides, I find it most rewarding seeing people enjoy my cooking," she laughed. "So please, chew before you swallow."

The second helping took a bit longer, and the worst of his hunger stilled as Shen's gentle words calming him. He tried to ignore the icy stare of the young man, Nagi, who was seated on a chair by the door, his katana resting over his lap. There was something not quite right about him, something the old man could not put his finger on, but it was little use to ponder over that now. Better just eat while he was allowed.

As he wiped up the last grains of rice with his _hashi_, there was noise outside the sliding paper door. With a loud _bam_ it slid open and another teenager, this one a bit older than Nagi and also donning in a cadet's uniform, entered the kitchen. His eyebrows arched up as he looked upon the strange scene in the room; Shen serving a strange old man and his friend Nagi in a foul mood. The older boy he smiled a half smile and sat down across the table from the stranger.

"Good evening, _ojiisan_. I presume you are a friend of Shen's."

"You presume too much, my brother." Nagi's voice cracked in anger. "That is nothing but a lowly thief that should have been tossed out on the street, not served dinner!"

Shen glared some more at Nagi before she took the old man's now empty bowl.

"As I said before and will say again, I have not forgotten what it was like to starve."

"Nor have I…Stay as long as you like, _ojiisan_. May I ask your name? _Watashi no namae wa Hamato Yoshi desu._ I am Hamato Yoshi. Pleased to meet you."

The old man gulped and returned the little bow, trying to straighten out his dirty, worn _haori_.

"I'm afraid I have no name to offer you in return. I never knew it. People call me Nezumi, the rat."

The young man Yoshi made a surprised face for the second time that night, then smiled and reached out to take the old rat's hand.

"They should call you splinter. Whatever have you done to your hands?"

The man looked down on his numb hands, filled with tiny needles of wood and covered with dirt and contusions.

"I ran, there was a wooden fence, I climbed it and ended up like this…"

"OH, MY!"

Shen had noticed the condition of her guest's hands. In her generous nursing spirit she immediately started digging through the cupboards in search of the first-aid kit. Nagi grunted and stood as he stood, disgusted, kicking open the door and stepping outside.

"I'm going home!" He cried with a last defiant air of righteousness. "This is madness. Do not blame me when he slits your throats in your sleep!"

"Nagi, That was rude! Hasn't Saki _oniisan_ taught you any manners?"

Nagi just grunted again and slammed the door shut. Yoshi sighed and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, _ojiisan_" Yoshi offered a tiny seated bow. "…He has been on edge ever since he was taken in by the Oroku household. Before that he lived here with us. I suppose he is still trying to adapt…I apologize."

The old man waved it off. He had been put through worse treatment for less. It would not haunt him.

"I'm going to give him a piece of my mind. Being so rude to an elderly…"

Shen sat herself down beside the old rat, laying a towel in her lap and placing his hands upon it. Then, she took out a pair of tweezers and smiled a bit at him.

"Just hold still _ojiisan_, I'll fix your hands for you."

He gave a faint smile back and turned his hands, palm up. She turned them back and he turned them again.

"I can not fix you if I can't see what I'm doing!"

"I can't touch a young woman's legs in such a familiar way!"

She sighed, rolling her eyes, and placed his hands palm down firmly, grabbing his wrist and yanking out the splinters with a look of steel.

"Turn the other hand if you like, but I have to see where these splinters are if I'm ever to get them out!"

Yoshi had been watching the whole struggle without a word, chin in his hand, a thought forming in his mind. When it was done he stood and turned to the door.

"Excuse me Shen, Splinter-ojiisan, I'll be back. I just have to ask father something!"

"Ah! Don't take long Yoshi! You haven't eaten yet!"

"It won't, I promise!"

With that he was gone. The old man looked after him, pondering a bit over the new nick-name he had received. Soon enough, Shen deemed his hands free from wood and proceeded to wash, disinfect, and bandage them. As she was fastening the last one, Yoshi returned with a short white-haired man beside him. Shen bowed and greeted him as "_Otousan_," Father. Splinter understood that this was indeed the head of the household. He bowed in tandem with Shen.

"My son tells me you are a thief" the man said, addressing his words to Splinter. "Shen took pity on you and let you in to have some food and to heal your wounds, is that correct?"

"_Hai_, Hamato-san. That is correct."

The white-haired man eyed him, stroking his long mustache. He was really short, probably a full head shorter then Splinter, who was no where near tall.

"You have a very polite way of speaking, Nezumi-san."

"I find that people will not despise me so much when I address them this way…Sir."

"I see…In any case, my son proposed to me that we take you in, as a helper, mind you. He has just joined the police-school, and can no longer help Shen out around the house during the day. Will you take his place in this?"

Splinter's head jolted up, surprise and shock written all over his face.

"Y-you would take me in just like that? Even though I'm nothing but a thief and a vagabond?"

The old man smiled and winked at him.

"My son was nothing but a beggar seven years ago. True, he was no thief, but then again he had not lived as long as I suspect you have. If you are willing to work, there is a place for you here."

Splinter cried. For the first time in years he allowed himself to cry in front of strangers. They did not judge him for it as others had. Rather, they accepted him, for they all knew far too well the feeling of such tear-bringing joy.

That night, He laid upon the new futon in the smallest room near the kitchen, feeling fresh and new from the bath and haircut. The look on the kid's faces had been priceless when they saw that he was not yet past forty. He smiled as he remembered. Now, with his stomach full and his hands slowly regaining their dexterity, he smiled as he drifted off into sleep, wondering if that boy, Nagi, hadn't killed him after all. Surely, this must be heaven…

And so his life began. Even though his body was well over thirty, his soul was as new and his mind as blank and eager to learn as a young child's. He arose in the morning before all else, chopped the wood for the bath and the stove, helped Shen make breakfast and pack Yoshi's lunchbox before moving on to what ever other job needed be done throughout the day. Both the adolescents asked him lots of questions about his past, listening to his answers and respecting his silence alike.

About a month after his "birth" he began learning ninjutsu.

At first he had just done it purely for the fun, just to see if he could. When Yoshi was practicing in the dojo, Splinter would sweep the porch outside. He'd glance in and sometimes mimic the moves he observed. The sweeping collided with Yoshi's training sessions more and more often, though soon little actual cleaning was done. Splinter made sure to be quiet on the squeaky floorboards, not wanting to disturb the young master's training, and watched eagerly as the young man went from punch, to kick, to jump, to duck.

Little did he know he himself was being observed. The head of the house, who was called Furuino; the Ancient One, had a good view from his study, and was intrigued by what he saw.

Naturally, he told his son to start teaching their new helper a few moves.

"See if he has any talent or if he's just good at mimicking!"

With that said, the old man left the two others alone. Yoshi looked after him, then turned his eyes to the grey-haired man sitting next to him, the hands on his knees shaking and his eyes hidden by his lowered head. The young man sighed and turned slightly so he faced Splinter, stretching out his legs leisurely.

"Why didn't you just come inside?" the young man asked curiously.

"I…Didn't want to disturb you, Master Yoshi."

"You don't have to call me master, you know that."

"Shen may have convinced me not to say her name with honorifics, but, with all due respect, you do not have her talent for persuasion, Master Yoshi."

Yoshi's reply came out somewhere between a sigh and a laugh.

"True, true enough, but to get back to the subject. Do you want to learn ninjutsu? I'm not as good as my father, but I think I can teach you a thing or two."

"I would be honored… It's by the master's orders…"

Yoshi sighed again and shook the older male by the shoulders.

"Splinter, please! Just this once, look at me and tell me what YOU want!"

Splinter did look at him, but was mute from surprise, eyes wide in question. They grew even wider when the teenager, desperate for finality about the rat's feelings, suddenly hugged him close.

"Just this once, please be selfish! You always act as if we would hate you if you asked for anything. Do you really think so little of us? We're your family!"

Such displays of affection were still something he was getting used to, and this was the first embrace he could remember. Naturally. Splinter froze like a scared rabbit, not really knowing what to do. Was it really okay? Was he allowed to be more then a shadow in this house? Was it really alright for him to think of them as family? To consider this a home? Was he really entitled to breathe?

"What is it that YOU want Splinter?"

Well if it was a dream, might as well dream it to its end.

"I would very much like to learn ninjutsu from you, Master Yoshi."

Yoshi let him go suddenly, shocked that the old man had actually replied in such a warm tone (even if he never cut the whole the "master" thing). Splinter was usually more hesitant and servile with his voice, but this time he had spoken more as a friend then as a servant. It made Yoshi smile.

"There we go. Then let's go through a bit of the basics before dinner, shall we?"

Splinter noticed that the more familiarly he spoke, the more the teenagers smiled. The rat stopped distancing himself from them, if only to see them happy. It was a bit weird, feeling like a little brother to them when he was twice their age, but it mattered little. For the first time ever, he was happy, and people where happy because of him.

The real proof of this his new life came at the next New Years in the form of a paper placed in front of him as they all had finished eating.

"Ha-ma-to…Splin-ter…?"

"You are now officially part of the family register," the Ancient One stated genially "I had Yoshi pick up the paperwork last week. Thought it would make a good gift."

Splinter still stared at the paper, wondering if he had misread it. The kanji still blurred and danced in front of his eyes before he was able to harness their meaning, but no matter how he tried to rephrase it, it came out the same. He was a part of this family, now and until the day he died. He had a name now; two, even! Suddenly, it started to feel less and less like a dream, and more like reality. This was not something that would end when he woke up. It was real.

"I would have put you down as Nezumi, but none of us have called you that in months. I hope you don't mind."

"N-no…I…"

He had to clear his throat, only now realizing that his eyes where clouding up again.

"I prefer Splinter. It's the name my… My family gave me."

So years passed. Yoshi and Nagi graduated, and even with his esteemed job as a police officer, Yoshi still made time to met with Nagi's adoptive brother, Saki. The two of them started making plans; plans to get their country out of the backwaters, plans to connect with America, to make their homeland grow. Soon enough, Yoshi quit the police force despite the many rewards and promotions he had been given, and threw himself into the world of trading. The ancient one helped both his son and Oroku Saki, giving them both advice and generous gifts of finances.

On her twentieth birthday, Shen was proposed to by Yoshi. She accepted.

They got married in the spring. Oroku Saki attended the ceremony. Nagi did not.

The same day that Splinter realized that it must be soon fifteen years since he had moved in, Shen got sick. All over the kitchen.

She was rushed to the hospital by her husband, almost as ill with worry. Splinter following with a bag of spare clothes. When he got there he paused at the door to Shen's sanitized room, slightly worried by the shocked look on Yoshi's face as he stared at his wife's lowered head. She was sitting up in the bed, her hands in her lap and her face hiding in the thick hair flowing down like a waterfall of ink over her shoulders.

"Master Yoshi, Miss Shen? Is everything alright?"

Yoshi held out a hand to say he would reply in a moment, there was just something he had to confirm first. He turned to his wife.

"Are they sure? One hundred percent?"

Shen nodded, a sob escaping her trembling figure.

For a second, Splinter feared the worst.

But all worries where pushed aside as Yoshi let out a joyful scream and swept her up in his arms and started spinning her around, the sheets floating around them like waves on the ocean, laughter filling the room.

"WE'RE GOING TO BE PARENTS! YOU'RE GOING TO BE A MOTHER!"

Splinter dropped the bag, all bad omens forgotten, all worries left behind. The two people he loved the most where going to have a child! A child!

"Yoshi! Hahaha! Yoshi, darling put me down! I'm going to be sick again!"

Despite her threats, Shen was still laughing when she was placed back down on the bed, the sheets in a mess around her legs. Then she was kissed over and over again before Yoshi finally managed to let her go.

"I'll be right back! I'm just going to call father! And Saki and Nagi! And…EVERYONE! Wait right here! I'll be right back!"

Then he flew out the room, giving Splinter a spinning hug in the process, disappearing in a cloud of laughter and joy.

Splinter smiled after him, then proceeded to help Shen straighten out the bed and change into her own yukata. It took a lot of tissues before she had cried out all her tears of happiness. Over and over again, she kept thanking him for his support.

"Things will probably get a bit tougher on you now," she cautioned him in a semi-firm tone "In a couple of months I'll hardly even be able to move."

"Don't worry Shen, I'll manage. You're the one that will be having it hard, making a miracle like this come true."

"We are so lucky to have you Splinter… Thank you."

"For what?"

She turned to him, the last fluffed pillow placed on the bed.

"For being here… For existing! We couldn't have made it without you."

Being accepted was something he had gotten used to by now. Being an acknowledged part of a family was his life as well. But the feeling of being needed was something he could never fully get used to. It still seemed unreal that people relied upon his existence just to keep going.

He just closed his eyes and shook his head, dissipating the fantasies. They where strong people. They would have found a way even without him.

Shen knew far to well what he was thinking, but she didn't feel like arguing just then. He would understand one day. So, that day she just put her arms around his shoulders and hugged him. When they had first met, they had been about the same height, but now Splinter barely reached her shoulder. So much time had passed already. But then again, they were in no hurry.

"Hey, Shen…"

They both looked at the door, Yoshi startling them with his sudden entrance. He looked at them with that hint of an idea in his eyes. The rigorous run through the hospital seemed to have calmed him down, even if he was literally vibrating from excitement.

"Why don't we have Splinter name the baby?"

"That's such a wonderful idea, darling!"

"What?!"

Yoshi smiled a huge smile and came over to Splinter and Yoshi, placing his arms around the two of them.

"Would you be the godfather of our child Splinter?"

"But…There must be someone better for that job! Ask Nagi-san! Or Oroku-san! Or…"

"Splinter…"

Shen stopped his rambling by placing her hand on his keikogi-clad arm. Even now, as an official member of a wealthy family, he still preferred his clothes in deep browns, almost like monk-robes.

"We're asking _you_, Splinter. You are the one we want to name this child in my belly. Will you please do us the honor?"

Looking from face to face, he found himself in the familiar position of not being able to turn them both down at the same time. He sighed and surrendered.

"I…I will try to think of a good name…"

As was custom when he submit to the youngster's wills, he was buried under them as they hugged and kissed him with never-ending "thank you"s.

Over the months, Shen's belly grew, a bit more then expected even, and when the time for the first ultrasound came, so did the answer to why.

"HOW many did you say?!"

Shen only smiled at the three men in her life and held up her hand, thumb placed on her palm.

All three of them sat down at the exact same time, all in shock, mouths wide open and eyes going from her hand to the now showing little bulk under her obi.

"You're going to be the father of four, darling."

Yoshi took a deep breath and swallowed. Then he smiled a bit nervously and turned to Splinter.

"Guess you'll have to think of a few more names there, old friend…!"

The Ancient One clapped his hands with a pleased smile.

"This is most fortunate. Soon the house will be full of children again!"

Time kept passing, never stopping for anything or anyone.

With time Shen grew and grew. She developed an appetite for warm cucumbers and soy and her mood would turn in a heartbeat. Splinter found it refreshing to have her raise her voice for once. She was rarely angry at all. It was even more soothing to watch Yoshi calm her down, patient like a tree in a thunderstorm, bending and turning at her every will, but always there to support her when she had used up all her energy.

It was when watching them that Splinter started thinking that having a baby (or in this case, several) was a bit like gardening. You place a seed in the soil, and with just the right amount of nourishment, timing and luck, soon a new life will start to grow. Just as any gardener, the man will have to tend to the earth where he has planted his seed, care for it, nurture it, give it sun and water. It was not something that could be done alone.

But then again, sprouts finding their way up through the dirt was a slow and painless process, much unlike the panicked day when Shen's water broke, two weeks ahead of schedule. Someone (or perhaps all of them) in her body was eager to get out.

That was probably the worst night in Splinter's new life. Not only did he have to sit out in the hallway listening to Shen's pain-filled screams, but he also had to watch Yoshi, his face in his hands, shoulders so tense Splinter partially expected them to snap from the pressure. Those who say that men have it easy have never watched a man in love listen to his wife as she screams in pain and curses him for what he has done to her body, totally incapable of doing anything at all to help her. All he could do was run in and out as she called for him one second only to order him out of her sight the next.

As morning broke in though the windows and filled the rooms with light, the screaming stopped and Splinter and Yoshi were allowed inside. For all the pain and suffering that had happened during the night, there was even more love and joy now in the morning sun. Splinter's worst night was just the preview for one of his happiest memories. Even after years to come, the image of Yoshi sitting on Shen's bed, both arms occupied by the tiniest little creatures would never leave Splinter's heart. Yoshi's smile matched only by Shen's as she held the other two small bundles close to her body. That image, that memory, was the warmest and brightest moment of the old man's life.

Even if the little boys where born early, and even quadruplets tend to be a bit frail at birth, the newest additions to the Hamato house were strong. They made it through their time at the hospital without any complications and soon enough they where all released to go home.

Shen had specifically asked Splinter and Yoshi to make a big crib.

"My sons will not be separated. If that was the case they would have come one at the time. These four will stay together, now and always!"

Neither of the men could find anything to say to that, so a big crib was made and the brothers slept side by side during their first time out in the world.

Splinter would be stand over them in the dead of the night, looking at their faces, names running through his mind like water, unable to catch one with his hands, let alone four. These where the most precious things. The most important existences in his world. Shen and master Yoshi where strong and could live on their own, but these little ones couldn't even sit up by themselves. The need to protect them grew in him every day.

He ended up looking through the books The Ancient One had given him for studying (after all, he didn't want an unschooled family member) in search for names to suit them, names that where strong yet gentle, new, yet filled with ancient blessings. Most importantly of all; names that fit together! Shen had a point. If the four could have lived separately, they would have been able to wait, but they needed to be together, so he had to find something.

Finally, he did.

"I knew you'd find something. I new it."

Splinter smiled and looked down at the four boys, wobbling around and poking at the brothers next to them. Yoshi and Shen stood on the other side of the crib, the proud grandfather by their side. He gulped.

"I don't know if they are good names, but I give them to you with my blessings…"

He reached down and stroke the one he knew was the oldest over the soft hair, the one whose eyes already seemed sharp as daggers.

"I give you the name Leonardo, after the man who never feared a challenge and never gave up on his ideals or beliefs."

Yoshi looked a bit surprised at the choice to give them western names, but he did not disapprove. On the contrary, this was better then anything he could have given his sons. So he smiled wider as Splinter let his fingers be caught by the boy with the darkest curls.

"I name you Raphael, after the master who could bend even the hardest rock into looking as soft as silk with a touch of his hands."

Shen giggled, remembering telling Splinter which of her sons had the hardest grip. The boy's godfather moved on to the one whose eyes where darting all over the room, curious as ever over his surroundings.

"I name you Donatello, After he who took what knowledge there was in the past and made a way for the future, never thinking of what was impossible."

The Ancient One smiled as big as he could, his round cheeks almost folding into themselves as he peeked over the edge of the crib down on the last little boy who was busy sucking his toes.

"And you; you I name Michelangelo. The name of a man who was never beaten, whose imagination placed him apart from all others and who saw the sky as his only limit."

Splinter looked up at the parents, a bit worried that the names had not been good. But he relaxed as he saw the beaming smiles on the other side.

"Leave it to Splinter to find the perfect names for our boys, huh love?"

"Mh! Never doubted him for a second, darling!"

"Better names are hard to find! You did an excellent job, Splinter-san!"

All he could do was smile and look down at the small lives whom he had just given names, all his words spent. Yoshi patted him on the shoulder, content. If there was a person in the world who knew what importance a name held, Splinter was the one. He knew what a blessing it was to have one, and he would never have wasted it.

Oroku Saki came by the day after to have a look at the offspring of his partner.

"Western names? And for the Great Masters none the less! What an idea! But I'll agree, it might suit them. People have a way of growing into their names, after all."

This was the first in a long time that Splinter had been in the same room as Saki for a substantial period of time, and somehow it left a bitter taste in the back of his mouth. It seemed both Saki and Nagi had the same oddities about them, something that just didn't sit well with Splinter. It was something about the way Saki looked at the crib that just made Splinter want to step between them. It was the same with how Nagi looked at Shen, but still different.

"Perhaps you're setting a good example for me, Yoshi my old friend. Perhaps I should make a business of settling down myself. Children are such a blessing, after all."

The younger of the two partners patted his friend's back, a big smile on his face, the total opposite of the stone-faced man.

"I keep telling you! You and Nagi both!"

The smile Saki gave to this comment made Splinter absolute sure never to let him near the boys. It send chills down his spine.

"Yes… I'll tell Nagi to hurry up and find the girl of his dreams."

Splinter couldn't sleep that night. There was a cold, iron hand around his heart, making him sick with worry. He was sure now.

_The Oroku family is dangerous… They are not to be trusted…_

Time passed faster then ever. Soon the little cherub-like babies started developing more and more personal attributes. They made noises that started to sound like words and just as Shen had predicted they could hardly stand to be apart for long periods of time. Particularly Raphael and Michelangelo where hard to keep apart, since Raph would start screaming and Mikey would whine to the point of almost crying when separated.

Before he knew it, Splinter was cleaning up after their first birthday-party. The little ones where asleep in their usual pile and Shen had collapsed in the tea-room, accompanied by Yoshi, who served tea to her and his father. Splinter had assured them that he could handle straightening up the garden by himself, prepared to do anything just to get Shen to relax after running around all day. He was just taking down the last lanterns when he saw a quick shadow disappear over the wall. He didn't call out. Years of training under Yoshi's strict watch were finally paying off. He dropped the cable on the soft moss and made his way over to the wall quickly and without making a single sound. His greatest talents had always been stealth and precision. He jumped the wall in a way that seemed impossible for a man of almost fifty, and looked around for any movement.

He spotted the shadow almost instantly, moving away with high speed. He didn't follow for two reasons. One; the person had not done anything (that he knew of), and two; He didn't want to have to explain to his family why he had been gone. They would just worry. But there was something familiar over the shadows movements. Something frighteningly familiar.

It wasn't until two days after that he figured out who it had been. It was Yoshi's strange conversation that had started the train of thoughts that connected the dots in his brain.

"I know it must be a burden on you but…"

"No! No, it's not a burden! But why?"

Yoshi sighed, an unfamiliar worried look on his face. No, not worried. Worse. Afraid.

"I… I just have to make sure that nothing happens to them…"

"What would happen? Why are you so scared, Master Yoshi? And surely, there are people better fit to be the boys' guardian?"

Yoshi shook his head firmly.

"I have talked this over with Shen and father. Should anything happen to me and her, you will be the guardian of the kids."

Splinters hands crumbled the edges of the official documents that stated the same thing Yoshi had just said.

"Why are you so afraid? What will happen?"

Yoshi placed his hands on the old man's shoulders, gripping them so tightly that Splinter had bruises for days afterwards. Their eyes met and there was a bottomless fear in Yoshi's eyes, but also determination. Taking him down would be hard. It had always been.

"Don't let Saki anywhere near my sons."

So he had been right. Oroku was a threat. Splinters resolve hardened with the thought. He placed his hands on Yoshi's arms and nodded.

"I will not let anyone harm them. Ever."

Two nights after that conversation, the police knocked on the door. It was in the dead of the night, the rain heavy in the air. As soon as he opened the door and saw the faces of Yoshi's old comrades on the force, Splinter knew his world had changed forever. He knew it would be raining for a long time.

It was still raining at the funeral. It had been almost a week because the police had wanted to investigate the reason why Oroku Nagi would have seemingly driven his oldest friends off the road. However, little evidence could be found, for all parts involved in the accident had met their end in the cold dark water under the bridge

Splinter had yet to cry. The Ancient One had collapsed with grief, unable to handle the loss of all three of his foster-children at the same time. Splinter had been dangerously close to doing the same, but he had snapped back when the boys had started crying. They were the only thing that kept him going now.

They can't even sit up on their own. They need food, water, shelter. They needed someone. He had promised, sworn, to care for them. The most precious things in his whole world. He had to protect them.

Saki came the day after the funeral. He had attended, but Splinter had avoided him and urged the Ancient One to go home and rest. Now they stood on opposite sides of the doorframe, like they would do once again in many years to come, the same look of despite in their eyes.

"Must be hard on two old men like you to care for those little ones" Saki said smoothly. "… I'm here to offer my assistance."

"Not needed."

He would not fake politeness with this man any more. Not while Saki could look at his adopted brother's grave with such a look of cold disappointment. The thought turned Splinters stomach.

Had he pushed his own brother to commit murder? Had he planed to kill his friend and partner? It didn't seem too far-fetched when looking into his cold empty eyes.

"My my. Surely the authorities will favor them being raised in a wealthy household by young parents over the thought of leaving them here?"

The raven-haired man made a gesture at the house. It was big, almost too large for one old man to care for. No worries. The Ancient One was as rich as a troll. He could hire any help he needed, and the boys weren't staying anyway.

Splinter had been prepared for this encounter. He pulled out the bunch of papers from his obi and showed them to the much taller man.

"Yoshi's will and testament." He explained to the ominous tycoon. "Shen's says the same. I'm the boy's legal guardian. I say what happens to them now, and I say that you will never, EVER, lay your hands on them! This conversation is over! Please leave!"

The dark eyes dropped below freezing point as Saki narrowed them and glared at the older man.

"I own half of this country by now, and soon I will be unstoppable. You think you can keep them from me?"

"You will never touch them. Master Yoshi has outsmarted you. Give up."

Saki grunted.

"Never!"

"Leave! Or I call the police! The same applies if you should ever return here!"

Saki almost roared as he grabbed Splinters haori and pulled him closer with a hiss.

"I'm not beaten yet, rat! I will win this battle!"

Splinter only clicked his tongue and smirked. Saki growled and pushed him back before turning to leave.

Splinter took the boys on the plane to the States that same night. There was no point in wasting time. Their grandfather stayed behind, unwilling to leave the house filled with memories but understanding the danger of keeping the boys so close to Saki.

It was hard at first, moving in to the new house Yoshi had already bought in New York, but Splinter made it work, for the boys. It wasn't that big, but there was room for a lot of people none the less. Splinter guessed that roughly seven people would fit comfortably. That thought made him a bit happy, and yet a bit sad.

Still, it was hard to feel depressed for long periods of time when surrounded by lively children. All the loss he felt over Shen and Yoshi he found reverting into love when he saw the four boys laugh and grow. It wasn't easy, not even with the support he got from their grandfather, but they soldiered on. When they started calling him dad, even though he had made sure they remembered Yoshi and Shen, he couldn't help but to think this was the last blessing his first friends and family had given him.

"And so, knowing this story, what will you do, Leonardo?"

He looked down on the boys, his sons, and realized they had grown so much. They looked back with wide eyes, the whole truth dawning on them. There had been more to their story then they had ever imagined. Mikey looked close to tears, Don made an almost horrified face, Raph looked like he was about to go berserk, and Leo was completely frozen with what he had just heard.

"Well, Leonardo? Can you still love her, even if she is the daughter of your parents' murderer?"

[CLIFFHANGER!! 8D oh how much you guys hate me now huh?! XP don't worry! This was the hard chapter! I've been through the rest of the story so many times in my head that I'm surprised it hasn't materialized on its own… thanx again to my beta Chao-pal who fixed my lousy japanese and the stuff she usualy does! owe you more pictures of karai, just give me the word hun!XB and remember kids, comments makes Tai type faster! X3]


	5. Heart

Heart

"Then what happened?!"

Karai sighed, poked her fork into her untouched moon cakes, and leaned back in her chair.

"Nothing. We went home and he did not speak one word to me the whole way. I did not see him this morning."

"Well, all fathers disapprove of their daughters dating. I know mine does! Only reason he lets me is because Donnie is an honor student!"

Karai smiled softly at Sidney, knowing her own father's cold attitude was probably rooted deeper then said. Nevertheless, Karai did not point this out. Coral had been right for once. It was nice to talk to other girls.

She had been disrupted during her after-breakfast meditation by Coral, who called to announce that Karai was spending way to much time with martial-arts freaks and needed a good ol' girl-talk. Coral's other victims happened to be Sidney and Susie, the girls Karai had met during her first enjoyable lunch in forever. So, Karai decided to please her friend at least for a little while. "A little while" turned into hours before she realized the passing time and, sure enough, the topic ended up on boys. Naturally, Coral knew every detail of the previous evening.

"Please, Coral, stop that idiotic grinning. You look like the Cheshire Cat!"

Naturally, Coral didn't do as she was told and just smiled wider until she suddenly threw her arms up in the air and hissed out a "Yes!"

"Two years, dammit!"

Her arms landed again with a bang that made the china on the rickety table jump. The other people at the café turned to glare evilly at her explosive glee.

"It took you two whole years but you finally smooched the guy!"

The other girls snickered as Karai glared at her friend. No need to be so loud about it.

"Please, quiet down or we are going to be thrown out. There is little need to announce things like that."

"This is a big day, Karai my darling, I'm going to make it count!"

The loud girl finally decided that finishing her cake was a better occupation for her mouth, giving the other two a bit of air.

"Well," Sidney added. "As far as the choice between Leonardo and Donnie goes, I consider myself a winner. Leo is a looker and all that, but Don is such a perfect gentleman."

"And Leonardo is not? If anything, I find him the most well-mannered of the four."

"Suppose you're right. But you have to admit he's a bit stiff!"

"Not compared to myself. I believe his attitude comes more from his desire to be a role-model for the others than to be uppity."

"I still prefer Don, he's much sweeter."

"Should you two be comparing your boyfriends like that? They are brothers after all…"

The two shorthaired girls looked over at the ginger-headed one as she slurped her soda and looked at them with her big blue eyes. During the time they had talked, Susie was (ironically) the one who had been the most objective. It made one wonder what really dwelled beneath those red curls.

"Those four aren't brothers."

All three turned to Coral, but she made no move to continue her odd comment. In fact, she looked at them like she was surprised they didn't understand what she meant.

"Then what, dear Coral, are they?"

She swallowed her last bite of cake and answered with a straight face.

"They're soul mates. Haven't you guys noticed that?"

Karai closed her eyes for a second. Coral always managed to find one of her nerves to step on.

"We have not known them for as long as you. Please, think about that."

"Point taken. In that case I have a piece of advice for you two."

The mood would have been very tense as Coral pointed dramatically to Sidney and Karai had it not been for Susie slurping obsessively at her soda.

"Just remember that no matter how much those two love you, you'll always be second place!"

"Now what does that mean?!"

"To what are you implying?"

"I'm just sayin' that those four are thicker then thieves. Trust me, I know! The kind of love those four have between each other can't be compared to anything. They still love you two, God know it shows! But to them there ain't nothing more important than family. I've seen 'em take on all kinds of shit together, and sure as hell they didn't even blink as long as they knew their brothers were backin' em up."

"You have been watching "Jackie Brown" again."

Coral glared at her best friend, a bit disappointed that that was all the commentary she got.

"How'd ya know?"

"Your linguistic skills drop by forty percent every time you do so."

Sidney spun her fork around, taking in what she had just heard.

"Now that you mention it, for four so different brothers, they do stick together an awful lot…"

"Tha's wah I said."

"That is what I said," Karai corrected gently.

"Oh shut it. Leave my linguistic skills alone for once."

A cheerful tune interrupted the small (and way to common) argument. Coral fired off one of her big grins.

"That's Raphy texting! Go on without me ladies!"

"She gives everyone their own theme?"

Karai nodded wearily at Susie's question and turned her attention to Sidney as she asked about the movie Karai had accused her friend of watching. Even when trying to explain the complex gangster movie (that she had only watched because Coral had forced her to) she noticed the perplexed look on Coral's face as she read the text. Bad news?

However, Coral then smiled again and looked up at them, a plan clearly forming in her petite brain.

"Well, Tarantino's movies are hard to explain," Sidney said. "But it sounds good. Do you recommend it?"

"Of course not! Karai doesn't like movies that don't involve samurais or the like, but I do!"

"I enjoy movies with essence, that is all. Also, the plural of 'samurai' is 'samurai'"

Karai was waved away, for the topic was a main source of arguments between the two associates, and Coral made her next announcement.

"Do you guys have plans for tonight?"

"Not really…?"

"I'm free… Dad's on a science-convention."

Karai only looked, confused, at her friend. What was she scheming? That grin really was a lot like the Cheshire Cat's.

"Feel like having dinner with me and a couple of boys I know?"

Raphael had half a mind not to let them in when he opened the door to see four girls on the steps with their arms filled with take-away boxes from the Golden Tortoise. If you asked him, the thought of having to spend the entire evening with a bunch of girls was not what he was hoping for. Women could be such a pain, after all. Then again, Coral was only half girl, he could tease both Leo and Don about having girlfriends, and the smell of chicken and curry made his stomach growl. Three against one.

"Welcome ladies! Shall I take your coats? Or perhaps all that food?"

"We're not wearing coats and if I give you the food it will be gone before I can say "Move it. You're blocking the way, dork!"

With that particularly snarky comment, the girls shoved him aside and made their way in, Karai pausing hesitantly at the door before she was yanked through by Coral. Sidney was the first to notice an odd pair of shoes in the hallway.

"I hope those don't belong to any of you guys! Pink is not a color I recommend for any of you!"

Raph just smiled with his arms crossed and replied almost nonchalantly.

"They belong to a friend who happened to drop by to announce a good piece of news."

"Who?"

"Oh, nobody special… Just April coming over to tell us that she's gotten engaged…!"

The next second he had to drop his cool act to save the plastic bags from crashing to the floor as a stunned Coral gaped at him, total shock all over her face.

"Casey ASKED HER?!"

"Go see her finger for yourself. She's with Don in the garage!"

The next second Coral was gone, and Karai recalled the older, redheaded girl that she had seen with the brothers the year before. She was fairly certain that that was April.

"Well, erm," Raph continued, rubbing the back of his neck. "Why don't the rest of you come into the kitchen and meet my dad. 'Cept you've met him before, right, Oroku?"

Karai looked up at him, wondering if he was using her first name because he was polite or because he didn't want to become familiar with her at all. She sincerely hoped that he didn't know how rude it was to call someone by their first name in her native country. Looking at Raph's teasing smirk as he relieved her from the bags of food that had been forcibly piled on her, Karai figured he just wanted to milk the fact that his brother was dating a semi-celebrity. He was probably going to rub it in Leonardo's face as soon as he saw them together. Karai bit her lip, ashamed.

The thought of seeing Leonardo again so soon struck her just a second before he showed up in the hallway. She could feel her cheeks heating up as he set his brown eyes on her. Then he smiled and walked over.

"Hi there. Long time no see."

She smiled back before she even noticed. Funny how he was the only person she didn't have to think about it with. Smiles just came by themselves at the sight of him.

"Your friend is engaged. Are we intruding?"

"Of course not! The more the merrier!"

With that he leaned over and brazenly kissed the corner of her mouth.

"I'm always glad to see you."

Karai couldn't help it; she turned bright red, jerking her head back involuntarily. Her face was probably lighting up the whole house. Leo smiled for a moment, but it disappeared when he turned to his snickering brother.

"And what is so funny, Raphael?"

"Oh nuthin'… Just getting a bit hot in here don't you think?"

Leo glared at his brother, who was conspicuously pulling at the neckline of his red t-shirt, while he took the rest of the bags from the girls so they could remove their shoes.

"Just because you're jealous doesn't mean you can go around making smart remarks whenever you want."

"I'm not jealous. I just think it's cute that you finally got a girl!"

"Like you're one to talk! Don't act like you're so much more experienced than me!"

"Well, at least I'M not a virgin!"

Leo's turn to light up the house with bright red. He actually couldn't get the words out from embarrassment. Karai had no idea what to say, or do for that matter. From the look of the others, neither did they. Did the two of them fight on this level a lot?

"See! I might not be all Mister High and Mighty all the time, but truth be told, that's the one thing I beat you to, BIG brother!"

Luckily, Leonardo had regained his composure during his brother's little speech.

"Yeah, a one night stand during summer vacation, that's really something to brag about. Especially when you where dumped the day after! Joy was not a girlfriend: she was a one-night stand!"

"Counts for more then you, anyway!"

"Just shut up, will you! This is not a conversation we should be having right now ANYWAY!"

"Eh? Why not?"

Leo glared even more intensely and made a gesture to the semi-shocked girls in the hallway. Raph took one look at them, smiled, and walked passed his brother towards the kitchen.

"Naw, poor Leo… All embarrassed because I told your little girlfriend you're a virgin…!"

"That's it! You're going down!"

All the girls could do was watch, stunned, as the two disappeared into the kitchen, kicking at each other with the bags dangling in their hands. While they were still standing there, listening to the two brothers calling each other all kinds of foul names, Mikey came sliding down the rail, landing with his hands in his pockets.

"Leo and Raph are fighting again, huh?"

Karai sighed, the insecurity fading away. Susie gave Mikey a hug and Sidney just had to ask.

"They do that a lot?"

"Yeah. Almost every day. It's how they communicate! Me and Don usually just stay out of their way. They work things out on their own."

His smile was so big and sunny it was hard not to grin back. He assured them that his brothers would be fine and showed them into the living room, where the sofa and the chairs had been pushed back to give room for a big, low table.

"Heh! Coral said she'd bring company, and with April and Casey here to, there is no way we could all fit in the kitchen, so we took out the party-table!"

They smiled and sat down on the soft cushions that were spread out on the floor around the comfortably large table, and, just a second later, Don came in with the other guests. They were formally introduced and, sure enough, it was the girl that Karai had remembered. Her boyfriend, now fiancé, turned out to be that guy that Hun had punched on just as much as he had Raphael. The thought of Hun made Karai's stomach turn unpleasantly. She had done all the could on that point. There was nothing she could do just then so there was no point in worrying. Karai took a deep breath, pushing the thought aside and settling into her cushion.

It was hard to be negative around these people. Even Leo and Raph acted civilized towards each other during dinner (mostly because April had snapped at them for still bickering when they came back from the kitchen, and had made them sit at opposite end of the long table.) Karai could not for the world remember when she'd had a dinner like the ones the persons around her apparently had every day. It was so different from the strict meals she shared with her father or the cold food she ate by herself when he was too busy for her.

Karai realized how unlike herself she was acting. So sentimental. So… mushy.

What was it about Leonardo that made her so out of character? Whenever the image of him popped up in her mind, she would become so… so…girly! Totally contradictory to the person she used to be. Her mind went blank and the words just wouldn't flow as well as usual. Was this really love? Was this what it was like to fall head over heels for someone?

Still, there was that little fact that just sitting there beside him, being offered soy and salt and seconds, made her happy. True, it was a different happy than when she had first started getting used to Coral's pushy friendship. The feeling of someone caring was so unfamiliar to her. Her father didn't care much, as long as she got good grades and stayed out of trouble. He wasn't like Coral, who kept asking about every little detail of her feelings like a psychiatrist who needed some medication herself. Surely, Karai's father was nothing like Leonardo, who kept smiling those warm smiles even though she had done nothing for him. She had read about unconditional love. It was the theme in almost every movie, every song ever written. She had always thought that the concept was pure fantasy. Karai had never in her whole life thought that a person could be so kind to someone and expecting nothing in return.

When she looked up from those heavy thoughts, a pair of eyes met hers. Splinter was seated on her other side. Even though he didn't say anything, or move, she knew somehow that he knew what she was thinking, and that he somehow understood. He understood that feeling. The confusion over why people chose to waste their time on people like Splinter and herself. Then she remembered.

"I owed them my life, my very existence. Before I met them, I was no more than a rat, stealing and wandering from place to place."

Yes. He knew the strange feeling that happened when people suddenly took an interest in your existence. He knew, and he was happier for it. Maybe, these feelings inside her chest, slowly starting to grow under the sun of so much attention, were a good thing.

She smiled back at him and leaned slightly against Leonardo's side. He didn't even look at her, but merely raised his arm and put it around her waist, drawing her even closer to rest her cheek against his shoulder. It was a natural gesture; gesture that Hun would have completed with an ass-grab and a nasty comment. Any guy was easier to love than that meat-head, but Leonardo just happened to be the best.

Leonardo waved her off from the stairs again, as Karai reluctantly left in the company of Coral and Susie. Sidney had gone the other way, and Leo refused to let her go home alone. Leo had considered walking Karai home as well. New York at night, yeah, that's a place you want a girl to wander around all alone, even if she had been trained from birth in seventeen different martial arts styles and had been beyond black belts in all of those disciplines by the age of ten. However, he admitted that there wasn't a sane guy in town that would jump Coral, not with her nut-cracker reputation, so he just kissed Karai in his gentle way and stood there and looked after them until they rounded the corner and disappeared.

"You know, you'll catch a cold standing out here without even a sock on. I know it's May and all, but geez, it's still cold at night, bro!"

Leo turned to look at his brother, who was hanging in the doorframe with his ever so bad-boy look. He was still angry with Raph so he just shrugged and turned away.

"They're long gone, bro. Coral just texted; the princess is safe at home now."

"Raph…?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you miss her? Joy, I mean…"

Leonardo turned around. He didn't know why he had asked, and he honestly didn't care so much. He had been a bit worried when Raph hadn't talked to any of them for three days after he was dumped, but he knew Raph had gotten over it. He wasn't the person to dwell on the past.

"No, not really… I'm not saying, it's not like I don't ever want to see her again, I mean she was fun to hang out with and we had some good times, but I don't really want her back, ya know. We were just too much alike, we'd start fighting over nothing. Not like you and I fight, that's different. We work shit out. But Joy and I… Nah! It just didn't work in the long run. Guess she just figured that out before I did."

Leo just looked at his brother. Was that really Raphael talking?

"Wow. When did you become so mature?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, if I had asked you that question six months ago, you would have hit me in the face and stormed off."

The longhaired boy thought a bit about it, then smirked his usual cocky smirk.

"Guess I'm becoming a man, huh?!"

"Not yet you're not, Peter Pan… You have a long way to go!"

Leo softened at the annoyed face of his sibling.

"But I guess, you got one step closer just now."

Raph smiled roughly at him, and Leo realized that he wasn't angry with him anymore. He sat up on the thick stone rail and scratched his neck. Might as well clear the rest of the air as long as Raphael was in a good mood. God knows how quick THAT wore off!

"So… Are you really okay with this? With me seeing her?"

Raph just sighed, crossed his arms and leaned against the other rail, and kicked the door shut.

"Look, Leo. I know I said some pretty darn shitty stuff last night, and even though I don't take back a word I said about that bastard, I take back what I said about Karai, Okay? You were right. She had nothing to do with it. She wasn't even an Oroku when it happened, and even if she had been, well, it's not like an infant could have stopped him. And dude…!"

"What?"

Raphael scratched his chin, a bit of red starting to show.

"It's not like you would listen anyway. You're so head over heels for her I'm surprised you remembered your underwear this morning!"

"Raph!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Below the belt and all that! So, whatever… Just…"

"Just? What? Come on, Raph."

He was a bit taken back by the intense look in his brother's deep brown eyes. Splinter used to say that he had no idea where their eyes or hair came from, both Shen and Yoshi had been dark haired and black eyed. He guessed, since none of them had known their parents, that they'd had some mixed blood in them. Still, Raphael's eyes were the ones that where darkest.

"Just don't get hurt, bro. Just don't go get yourself hurt."

Leo had to smile to this. It was so rare for Raph to be emotional, but seeing his brother falling in love must be triggering something in him, pushing him to actually say some of the stuff that was on his mind.

"Even if I am hurt, you guys will be there to catch me right? You'll have my back, won't you?"

He sounded like a two-year-old. Wonderful

Raph smiled back.

"Always. You know that."

Leo smiled and stood up straight again. Raph had been right, it was cold outside.

"But that don't count if you go looking for trouble! In that case you're on your own!"

Leo opened the door and gave him a skeptical look. Raph caved in seconds.

"Okay, even if you do go looking for trouble I'll come save your sorry ass… But that's just so I'll get the pleasure of kicking it for being so darn stupid!"

"Deal!"

With that they went inside, all hostility forgotten.

At least, until they noticed that there was only one towel left. First come, first served, after all. What's a few bruises between brothers, anyway?

"You know, I'd actually forgotten all about you. Ain't that funny?"

"Well, then. I guess this is a rude awakening!"

Leo just sighed, his back pressed up against the locker, Huns big hand in a fist holding his shirt in a tight grip. Figures he'd be mad. He placed his hand on Huns wrist. A small warning-bell went of in Hun's brain, but it was put out when he figured not even Leo could throw him over his shoulder with the wall of lockers behind him.

"Seems like you forgot something as well…"

"What?"

"I'm not Raphael."

With that, Leo held Hun's hand down as he brought his own fist up to crack Huns elbow out of place. The giant senior let out a pain-filled shout and released him, backing off, cradling his arm. Leo slid back down on the ground and moved a bit to the side, leaving himself some room. No way Hun would stay down from something small like that. A crowd had started to form the second Hun had slammed him into the locker with his line about Leo stealing his girl. Now the corridor was clogged like a diseased artery. Leo could only pray a teacher (or better, several) would get annoyed and break them up soon.

Just as predicted, Hun was ready to go after just a few seconds. With a grunt he twisted his arm back into the right position, cracked his neck and knuckles, started to move for Leo again. Leo sank down in Mantis and waited. He had beaten Hun before. Okay, it had been almost a year, but the big lug hadn't changed his style at all. It wasn't going to be easy, but then again all he had to do was to make sure that he (or anyone else) wasn't hit by that huge fist that was on a crash-course for his face.

"You little piece of shit! I'll teach you to steal my girl!"

"Why? Because you're afraid that Karai would kick your ass if you told her that yourself?"

Leo just moved his head a few inches, no need to waste energy on this guy. He then placed one hand on the side of Huns ribs, palm out, and hit the massive boy's other elbow with his other hand. Last time they had fought, Leo had noticed that Hun preferred punching people over kicking. Unfortunately, that was something that even had begun to show in his physique, his arm-muscles swelling a lot during these last few months. Better to weaken his punches right away.

The oldest Hamato son ducked and got around the giant's other side and assumed the Tiger. Going for the shoulders this time. Needed a bit of leverage, though, Hun was a big guy, and this time the blow had to hit from above. Easy fix.

When Hun turned, almost blind with rage, Leo simply front-thrust kicked the inside of his knee. As the brute bent his leg to regain his balance, Leo stepped up on his thigh, brought both his half-fisted hands down on the left trapezius muscle, and topped it of with a back flip off of Hun's massive chest. Hun fell in a manner that made Leo want to shout "Timber" but he held back that urge. He himself landed on both feet, straightened out his shirt and bowed humbly at the applauding audience.

Somewhere at the back of the crowd a teacher made an attempt to break up the wall of people. The noise started to die down. Time to go. Just as he turned around Karai broke through the barrier of bodies with a worried look all over her face. She rushed forward to grab him by the arms, much to everyone's attention, and even the ones leaving decided to stay for a few more seconds to see what one of the very average Hamatos was doing with the Oroku-princess.

"You and Hun fought. Are you unharmed?"

He smiled at her. It was a bit flattering that she had rushed here just for that. He pointed at Hun, who was grunting trying to get up again.

"I'm fine. He's nothing compared to Splinter. You just gotta know how to do it."

She looked at her ex as Hun noticed who Leonardo was talking to. His massive face almost imploded from anger.

"You backstabbing bitch! I'm gonna…!"

"What, Hun? You thought picking fights with Leonardo would help you? That I would take you back if you beat him? What are you, a Neanderthal? Do not waste your time! Like I told you, it is you who is no good! There is not a girl in the world who would put up with you! Now get out of my sight before I come over there and remove you from my presence."

With that, she took a firmer grip on Leo's arm and dragged him off just as the bell rang. He let her lead the way, bending down to grab his bag in passing. By the sound of the whispers behind them, every soul in school would know every detail, and then some, about what had happened by the end of the day. He smiled and took her hand, slowing her down. They were far from Hun now, no need to hurry. They were going to be late anyway. They and half the school. Might as well make use of the time.

She turned to look at him, anger blazing in her eyes. He almost ran away before he realized it was still aimed for Hun. Not caring about who might see or what they might think, he cupped her gaunt face in his hands and kissed her forehead.

"Calm down. I'm fine. I knew he'd pull something like that. Please, calm down now."

She sighed and relaxed her shoulders, falling forward some.

"I am sorry. I come with so many problems, I may not be worth the bother."

He put his arms around her, squeezing her tightly and kissing her cheek just under her almost opalescent eye.

"I'd gladly walk through hell and back for you. Whatever problems you come with, you're worth it."

She snickered a bit at the corny comment, but she knew he meant every word. If she was worth walking through hell for, he was worth the sky and earth, sun and moon. She should have done this years ago.

He promised to watch his back, and to see her during lunch, and with one last kiss they parted, way late but totally unable to care. Sure enough, by the end of the day their relationship was the talk of the school.

The week went by, Hun and Raph clashing every day. Hun had apparently realized that Leo was not the way to go if he wanted Karai back, and in lack of other ideas he took it out the same way he always did. Raph on the other hand, was only to happy to oblige, still mad about the fact that he had been the last to know about Hun's little assault on his brother.

That weekend, Karai came over again, asking if anyone was interested in a sparring match. Leo happily agreed, but the others declined the invitation. Splinter left to go to a neighborhood meeting with the other shop-keepers on the street, Don and Raph headed for April and Casey's place to make the most of the time before they went back to college that Sunday, and Mikey just grinned and took off on his skateboard, destination unknown even to him.

Even so, it wasn't until they had been in the dojo for hours, first just dancing around each other, trying the other out, getting more and more intense the longer they went on, and finally calling it a day, that Leo realized that they were all alone. Karai was on his bed, drying her hair, still damp from the shower and wearing only a dark red top and dark grey sweatpants. His heart skipped a beat, and before he could stop himself, he had walked over and kissed her, pulling away the towel in her hands and letting it fall to the floor. He could feel her hesitating before she put her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her level. He followed obediently, slowly laying her down on the blue cotton sheets.

It had been a good week.

[Huur huur huur! XB more cliffhangs!! Got to keep you on the edge of your seats now! ;) I still suck at romance, I might suck WORSE at fighting-scenes, but I hope that you'll forgive me and that you'll stay tuned for the next chapter, where PLOT BEGINS TO TAKE ACTION!! 8D and not just your average teen-drama, but some ninja-drama to! and rating went up cause well, whats bad in this chapter, becomes worse in the next! All reviews, good and bad, are welcome!]


	6. Breaking Point

Breaking Point

Humans are the most fragile beings on the planet. That is a fact. We have no claws or fangs. Not poison nor fur. Our senses are as weak as they come and, over all, we are pretty damn stupid. It's a miracle we have evolved this far at all. Even our bodies work against us. A human can, on average use only ten, maybe twenty, percent of his or her full muscle-strength.

To become an adequate ninja, or even a good fighter in general, you have to overcome the barrier human nature has placed upon you. You must not give in to fear or anger. You must withstand the pain of using up to fifty percent of your full muscle capacity, for any more and your brain shuts down from pain. Most importantly of all – if all else fails, you must be able to stop before you go to far.

Both of them pushed away at the exact same time, the exact same breathless words on their lips.

"Stop! I cannot…!"

They looked at each other, both a bit surprised that the other had reacted the same way. Just as they tried to stutter out an apology, they heard the front door slam open and Mikey's cheerful voice.

"I'M HOME! You guys here?!"

Leo smiled an uneasy smile and stood up again, shouting down at his brother.

"Yeah! We're upstairs!"

"Is the bathroom up there free?!"

The other boy was making his way up the stairs and Leo didn't need to shout his answer.

"I just got out. Did you land in something smelly again?"

Mikey poked his big grin through the door.

"Nope, just sticky!"

Leo sighed affectionately as the mud covered boy made his to the shower. He then turned to Karai who had fished up the towel and was drying the ends of her ebon, still-damp hair.

"Are you staying for dinner?"

"Do you promise not to jump me again?"

Leo blushed like a turnip who had been caught dancing inappropriately with a potato and turned away, scratching his nose. She shouldn't tease him, but he had startled her quite a bit. Her guard had become lax around him. It was utterly ridiculous.

"Sorry… I have no idea what came over me."

"It is all right. I did mot mind particularly if I must be perfectly frank.. Only…"

It was a bit awkward to put into words. Karai knew perfectly well that normal teenagers did this every day, that it was normal to do this with your boyfriend, but she had not been raised a normal girl. She could only hope that he would understand that it was not because of him. She had been raised with the iron rule of always doing the honorable thing, and, sadly, that did not include throwing herself at a boy in that manner, no matter how warm her body got when he smiled at her.

"I know. I understand. I'm sorry. That was not an honorable thing to do. I apologize."

He sat down on the floor in front of her, placing his hands lightly on her knees. Karai flinched away automatically when his fingertips brushed against the pressure points and main arteries in her legs, but she forced herself to be still.

"Don't worry. I'll do this right. I won't rush it like that again."

She smiled and leaned forward slightly, towel around her neck.

"How noble of you. It truly must be hard upon those raging hormones."

He grunted quietly at her continuous teasing, but then he smiled and took her hands.

"I'll manage. It's not like I intend to ever let you go."

"Now, that is a bit possessive. Do you not agree?"

Light as a butterfly, he placed a kiss on her hands.

"When faced with someone as perfect as you, one can't help but to be a little bit possessive."

"What the hell are you two doing?"

They turned to Raphael who was leaning against the doorframe, an overdone mask of fake shock on his face. Leo smiled brightly and said with an equally overdone mask of delight.

"Oh, I'm just declaring my undying love to my girlfriend. Care to watch, dearest brother?"

"Yeah, sure. Let me just get a bucket to puke in first. Geez."

With a roll of his eyes, Raph left, pushing the door shut as he did. Leo turned back to Karai, the smile on his face more sincere.

"So. Should I tell dad that we'll have a guest tonight?"

"That would be nice."

Part of Karai kept telling the rest of her that she couldn't go on like this. The few moments she spent with Leonardo and his warm, kind family made the time she had to spend in her own home seem so cold and lonely. The man in a black suit outside the door was a reminder of that. At least they had finished the meal before he knocked on the door, informing them that Mr. Saki was requesting that his daughter come home immediately.

"Are you sure? We have room if you want to stay."

"Iie arigatou. I will return home. I have practice early tomorrow. We will see each other on Monday."

He smiled and placed one of his soft kisses on her cheek before letting her go down the stairs and get in the car. She smiled at him and closed the black-tinted door.

"You have become very relaxed around him, haven't you?"

She gasped and turned to the person sitting on the seat across from her. All the warmth and comfort she had just felt ran of her like cold water as she met the eyes of her father. The feeling of security in the Hamato house had made her lower her guard so much she had not even noticed his presence.

"Now then, on the way home I wish to tell you a story. It's the story of a gullible man and a love-sick fool. Pay attention now, because this concerns you and that boy of yours."

She could feel a dagger of ice twisting its way through her heart as he began to tell her. Still, he was at the part where the story still had a shard of humanity.

When the car came to a halt in the garage beneath the skyscraper in the heart of Manhattan, Karai violently heaved the door open and threw up every scrap of nourishment in her body. She held herself up against one of the other cars as she tried to organize her thoughts, but one loud voice in her head kept screaming.

_He is mad! You thought he was a criminal but he is thoroughly evil. How could he? How could he do something so horrible? _

Karai staggered to her feet, spitting and wiping the filth from her face. Her entire body ached and jerked, shaking with fear. The only thing that kept her from crying was her brutal yet effective training. She refused to let her body take command for a second longer. She had mastered herself years ago. She was stronger than this! She pushed herself up and turned to face the man stepping out of the black car. He looked rather amused at her and grabbed her chin, not hard, but enough to make his point.

"You will obey me. You will do as you are told and nothing else. You owe me everything you are. Without me you would be dead; rotting away in a ditch in Japan. I brought you here, raised you with everything you wanted and more. I made you. You will obey!"

She looked down, feeling the truth in his words. She owed him her existence. Still, part of her refused. The iron core of her being, the warrior in her, would not accept defeat. Not even to him. Her father gripped her jaw more firmly and shook her rudely.

"If you ever disobey me, I will erase that accursed family."

Oroku Saki released his only child's chin as the chill of his words pierced her consciousness. He would remove them permanently. Not just Leonardo, his brothers and their father, but anyone who would protest or perhaps even start trying to figure out who was responsible. She bit the inside of her cheeks until they bled as the faces of the people she had met rushed through her mind. Sidney and Susie. April and Casey. Coral. He would make sure no one ever found out what had happened to them.

The iron core gave in. The price was too high. She nodded.

"Good girl. Now, go change. I want to introduce you to some business associates of mine. Don't bother with anything fancy, I'm going to have you run an errand later."

With that, he left her alone. She didn't cry. Even if she had been the kind of girl to cry, she couldn't have anyway. It felt as if everything inside of her had frozen rock-solid.

Raph's voice made Leo stop in the door. His brother was in his room, talking loudly on the phone. Something about his tone made Leo worried.

"No! No, just stay put! Don't go out, just wai… Wait for me! I'll be right over! Do you have anything to prote… Ok that'll do. Don't do anything until I get there."

He rushed out the door but stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed Leo across the hall. Leo crossed his arms over his chest in that way that always made Raphael want to disagree, no matter what Leo said.

"Where are you going?"

Silence. A worried streak found its way over Raph's face and he spilled despite Leo's crossed arms.

"A bunch of Purple Dragons are sneaking around Coral's. Her parents are out and the police won't come unless they actually DO something. I won't leave her alone with an aluminum bat as her only protection."

"She's fierce enough with that bat. You're not going out, especially not without asking Splinter."

Raph cracked his knuckles in a very Hunnish way and growled at him.

"I'm not asking permission! She's my friend and I'm not going to let her get hurt! Don't you care at all?!"

"Who's getting hurt?"

"Are you two STILL arguing about the pickles?"

Leo ignored the other two poking their heads out in the hallway.

"You're not going! Of course I care but I won't have you running around hunting Purple Dragons in the middle of the night!"

"I'll stay at Corals, and I'm not hunting! You know how bad those guys are! She's scared, damn it! I'm going!"

Don and Mikey had picked up enough.

"Leo! We can't just leave her alone!"

"Are they hanging around the restaurant? Did she call the cops?"

"They won't come! I'm going, no matter what pretty-boy says!"

Raph tried to force his way past Leo but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned to knock his brother's lights out but forgot all about it when Leo pointed at the others and issued his next order.

"You two, bed! Now! We'll be back soon."

"No fair!"

"Leo, you can't go alone!"

"Look you three, make up your minds! I'm leaving now, with you or alone, I don't care!"

Leo held his shoulder in a firm grip and the plan of a fist in his brothers face reappeared in Raph's brain. Once again it was forgotten when Leo smiled.

"Wait. Let's at least bring some gifts to the party."

Raph's turn to smile.

Splinters eyes popped open. The room was dark and the house was quiet. Too quiet. He could not hear Mikey's snoring or Raph tossing about in his sleep, nor could he hear Don's mumbling or even Leo sneaking around, practicing moving around in the dark. He was alone. It scared him more than anything.

He got up, not bothering with the lights, grabbed his robe and made his way up the stairs and prayed that his sons where just sleeping unusually quietly that night. He had just as much luck with that as he had with them behaving at dinner. Mikey's room was empty. Worrying. Leo's room was just as deserted. Unnerving but at least he was looking after his brothers. Raphael's room was abandoned as well. Must be something big. Just to complete the circle, he looked in Donnie's room. Empty.

_At least they are together_.

That was the only positive thought in Splinter's mind as he hurried downstairs. He did not know where they were or why they had left or even when, but they were together. It was better then nothing. Be that as it may, he worried for his sons. He almost ran out to the dojo, praying silently that he was wrong, that they had just gone out for a game, maybe a dare, just to bend the rules and stretch their wings.

His prayer was not heard. Hitting the light switch with his cane he instantly noticed the empty places on the weapons racks. They had taken their favorites. How predictable.

Turning the lights off again, he wandered back to the house. As he sat down in front of the small shrine in the living room, he tried to think positive.

_They are together, and they are armed._

But somehow, the thought gnawed at him. His sons had gone to battle.

_There is no telling if they will return._

"Splinter is gonna kill us for sure."

"Should have thought of that earlier."

"Shut up!"

"You didn't have to come…"

Mikey shrugged his shoulders up to his ears, peeking outside through the gap in Coral's curtain.

"Are they still there?"

"Yup…"

Leo moved so he could see for himself. The group outside had grown by at least five, maybe six people. The fact that they had been covering in the back alley for almost an hour made the teenagers even more certain that they where targeting the restaurant.

"Looks like they're waiting for someone."

"Let's hope whoever they're waiting for doesn't show so we can go home."

"Yeah, sorry Mike. I don't think it'll be that easy. Where did Coral go by the way?"

Don nodded out the door.

"She and Raph went to check the front. We don't want to get stabbed in the back now do we…"

"We should have stayed at home."

"You were the one who said you wanted to come."

Mikey shrugged again and played with the chain of his nunchaku. He had taken his oldest pair. They were worn and dark from years of practice, but he always liked the feel of the wood under his hands. They were so familiar to him, like an extension of his hands. He knew exactly how they would move and turn and hit. They where older then he was, and he would probably give them to his grandchildren. At least, if he lived to have any.

"If this is what it's like when you're waiting for a fight, then I'm never going to join the army. The suspense will kill me faster then any of the thugs out there…"

"I keep saying that you didn't have to come."

"Yeah, right. Remember the time Coral took the blame for me, ya know, the time with the blueberry pie?"

"You're comparing this to pie?"

"The only thing that beats pie is pizza."

Leo sighed but couldn't help but smiling. Mikey was right. Coral was a friend. She would have done the same for them, just like Casey and April and everyone else they knew. It was hard to feel alone in this neighborhood. There were friends here, and the Purple Dragons outside were about to find out what a bad idea it was to mess with anyone on this block. Here, you had backup.

"Have they moved?"

"Nope. Did you see anyone out front?"

Coral shook her head as she entered with their brother and sat down on her bed, twisting her hands around her black bat with gold print on it. Casey had given it to her after she had complained about her wooden one breaking when she had missed the guy and hit a wall. She had beaten up people with it before, but that had been small groups; three to four people tops. The group outside must be up to fifteen people by now.

"I want you to promise me something Coral."

"Hum? What?"

She looked at Leo as he turned away from the window and placed a hand on his swords. The weight over his back was alien but at the same time comforting. It was like having a friend strapped to your back.

"Stay behind us at all times and don't run ahead. I want you by the door, not a step out in the alley."

"No fair! It's my home!"

"And with all due respect, you don't stand a snowball's chance in hell against these guys. You know that. It's why you called."

She grunted but nodded at him, her pride keeping her from admitting defeat but her logic forcing her to submit. It was good enough for Leo. It had become so much easier to handle Coral the moment he realized that her brain worked almost like Raph's, only not so competitively. He turned back to the window.

"Anything?"

Mikey stared out into the dark, narrowing his eyes as he tried to see what was going on.

"I think they… They're moving! They are coming out into the alley. Straight for the door."

Just as he said this, a scraping noise came from downstairs, metal against metal.

"That's our cue!"

Leo made his way down the stairs, followed by the others.

Whoever was outside was tinkering with the lock. Leo motioned to the others to be quiet and took a deep breath. The lock clicked and the doorknob turned. Just as a crack let in a thin beam of light from the street, Leo kicked the door out as hard as he could.

"Stay inside, Coral!"

He jumped out on the pile of surprised gangsters that were still trying to figure out where the ground went. He was followed by his brothers and none of them wasted any time, proceeding to take down the Dragons still standing. Coral placed herself on the concrete step outside her door. Just a second later one of the guys Leo had knocked over got to his feet. Still a bit dizzy from his little tumble, he threw himself at the least dangerous-looking figure he could see, not noticing the sports equipment that was making it's way for his temple.

Mikey saw the guy fall, smiling as he threw his own opponent in the large dumpster by the wall. Coral would make sure no Purple Dragon sat foot in the house. Suddenly a huge shadow landed on him, and it was only thanks to Splinter's hard training that Mikey managed to avoid the same fate as the guy Coral knocked out. Ducking and turning, he managed to hit the massive sack of meat over the shoulder before he jumped away, not too eager to get within reach of those enormous fists.

"Hun?!"

"The one and only, half-pint! This is not a lucky day for you!"

"Tell me about it. I knew I should have stayed home!"

Hun swung the pipe in his hands straight down, missing the quick little ninja by a mere inch. A sudden roar shook them both.

"HUN! TOUCH HIM AND I'LL KILL YOU!"

The giant growled before he replied, already moving for Mikey again.

"I'll get to you in a second, Raphael! I'll just roughen up you're little brother here first!"

"Hey! I'm not a sack of potatoes! Leave me out of your love-quarrels!"

Mikey ducked for the pipe as Hun swung it for his face again. He jumped, stamped off of the dumpster behind him and kicked the blond in the chest. Just to be sure of success, he swung the nunchaku at his head as well. It hit square over the cheekbone and Hun twirled around like a prima ballerina before he slammed into the opposite wall, his eyes rolling in his head like marbles. Mikey landed on the ground again, moving to attack once more. Mikey looked swiftly over his shoulder when Corals scream pierced the crisp air, but Don was already there to rescue her, knocking her aggravator away.

"You're not paying ATTENTION!"

Mikey ducked even before he had turned his eyes back to Hun. Big mistake, because Hun was not aiming high anymore.

His legs were swept away and he hit the ground. Not, that is, that he thought much about any of that. His mind was set on repeating that cracking sound from when the piece of iron had hit his leg. Fact was, he couldn't feel his foot anymore, but the rest hurt so much he almost fainted. His scream made everyone freeze for a second before the purple Dragons continued to press against the friends. Hun stood over him, smirking, his white teeth standing out against the dark.

"Nighty night…!"

The row of teeth where suddenly replaced by a fist, and Hun tumbled away from the boy and slammed bodily into a brick wall. Another shadow stood over Mikey, but this one was focusing on the other, larger hunk of meaty flesh. The voice was so cold and calm that it took Mikey several seconds to recognize his brother.

"I warned you, Hun. You crossed the line this time."

Then Raphael was upon him, beating Hun's face beyond recognition with his fists, zai completely forgotten.

Don slid down in the dirt by his fallen brother, tossing another Dragon aside as he did.

"Are you okay, bro?"

"Leg. Hurts. Please Don… Help."

Donatello looked his brother over, his eyes stopping about a hand's length from the knee. There was no mistaking the fracture, not at that angle.

"Your leg is broken Mike. Stay still or it will get worse."

Don placed himself in front of his brother, staff in hand. Luckily, most of the others in the alley were in worse shape then Mikey.

Leo heard his brother's shouts but he could barely find a second to look over. His opponent had popped out of nowhere, and the guy was fast. He was hooded and had a mask, much like the ones ninja wore, and he was armed with two knives, one small and one as long as Leo's forearm. Leo could barely keep up with the swift movements and he was already grazed over the cheek and arm. The wounds where small but the edges were sharp and blood was already making his grip slippery. Damn this guy! It was like he knew what Leo was doing before Leo did!

Suddenly, he noticed Coral swing her bat in the air behind his opponent, and a can came flying straight for the hooded guy's head. It hit hard and made the guy lose balance for a second. That was all the opening Leo asked for. He swung his swords, one from above and one from the side, making the masked one cross his vambraced arms to hold off the sharp edges. With his arms locked, Leo pushed the other back.

Then came the movement that lit a warning in Leo's head. The masked one placed a foot between Leonardo's and then slid his head in under his arms, tackling Leonardo square in the chest. The blades broke apart and the hooded figure spun on his heel to kick him in the head. Leo knew that move!

"Raph!! Stop it or you'll kill him!"

Don abandoned his staff in order to pull his brother away from Hun's now very limp body. Raphael, on the other hand, was not happy to let him go as long as the tall blond was still breathing. The two of them tumbled backwards, wrestling for power. Raph ended up on top and with an almost demonic roar he drew back his fisted hand to give Don the same beating as he had Hun.

"RAPH! STOP!"

The sound of his youngest brother's scream halted him, the fog in his head clearing in an instant. The one beneath him was not a threat. It was his brother. Brother. Mikey! He was hurt! And Don! He almost hit Don! What was wrong with him?

"AAH!"

The three snapped back to reality and turned to the two fighters left at the edge of street.

Leo had told himself that he was mistaken. There was no way. Every time he pushed his opponent those motions came back. Those familiar ones. The ones he had seen before. He had to make sure, but the hooded one was too good. Leonardo couldn't get close enough. Leo was just about desperate enough to prove himself wrong that he took a chance. He took a firmer grip and brought both his blades down on the long knife, locked it, and slammed his body against the masked ones' chest. Then, he let go of one of his swords, grabbed the mask, and pulled.

His opponent ducked, twisted around and jammed the smaller knife into Leo's back, just over the shoulder blade. He screamed. The now unmasked fighter dropped both weapons, ducked, and almost rolled out under the streetlight, mask left behind in Leo's grip.

He dropped to one knee, pulling the blade from out of his back. He was almost too afraid to look as the person under the dim light stood and turned to him.

All the Purple Dragons were out, taken down by the brothers or their friend. The only one left standing was the slimmest one; the one that now shook out the short dark hair and focused on the oldest Hamato with pale jade eyes.

"No…"

Coral stared at her friend. What was going on here?

"Karai?"

The ice-princess looked them over. The three brothers on the ground in the back of the alley, her friend in the door to her home, Leo on his knee in front of her. Karai could feel two needles of ice in her neck. Time to act. This was her only chance to save them. If she messed up, they would be six feet in the dirt by tomorrow.

"I am revealed. Pity. I so enjoyed playing with you."

She forced her voice to remain steady. She did her best to relax her body, trying to seem disappointed.

"What? Karai, what are you talking about?! What are you doing?"

She set her eyes on Leonardo. It was hard. Under his gaze all she wanted to do was throw herself at his feet, beg for his forgiveness, explain everything. If nothing else then to remove the despair that was slowly leaking into his eyes. Please, don't look at me like that. Please, don't look so hurt. No, this had to hurt. This was the only way she could think of. She forced out a disgusted smile.

"You honestly think I would spend time with the likes of you because I _enjoyed_ it? Do not patronize yourself. This was a game, and now it has ended. Pity, like I said, you where so much fun to manipulate."

The sound of police-sirens broke through the night, but Leonardo didn't even blink.

She had played with them? All the things she had said, all the time she had spent with them, with him, it was all just lies?

He was still doubting. She needed a killing blow. Coral would be harder, her head being much thicker. But Leonardo was the one she had to cut her ties with right now, while he was watching.

"Here I was hoping I could have used you and your pathetic brothers to overthrow my father. I will have to wait a couple more years before I can take his throne. Such a shame."

With just that one last look at him as his eyes widened, fully grasping what she was saying, Karai turned away, darted across the street and disappearing into a dark alley. The police rounded the corner the next second, lights flashing over the walls.

One block down, a black jaguar silently turned and drove away. The driver glancing nervously into the review mirror but did his best not to seem panicked. His boss would have his head if he made a mistake. He liked his head, especially where it was. He sneaked a peek at said boss in the backseat. That damned man had been smiling the whole time while watching Miss Karai go up against her friends. Now, as they drove away to pick her up, he was actually laughing quietly. It had to be the most frightening sound the poor driver had ever heard. He was not being paid enough for this. Too bad he knew that if he complained, he would be fitted with brand new concrete boots and taken for a swim in the Hudson river.

Better just stick to driving the car.

[I spooked you didnt I?! 8D my beta almost killed me before I told her nothing was gonna happend! XP ok! so now i broke stuff...I'll fix it, just give me *counts on fingers* about four chapters...this one is becoming loger then I predicted! .` Cookies for all reviewers! I'll get on the next chapter (its alrady six pages long so itll be up soon) as soon as i have time to breathe!]


	7. Precious Person

Precious Person

_There is something wrong with me._

_There is something seriously wrong with me. _

Those were the only clear thoughts in his head. The rest faded into a blur like the sound of a stormy sea. Something inside of him had been broken, something bad. He felt like he was walking on needles, like he was made out of broken glass. Almost like he would hurt anyone who touched him. Raphael sighed and looked at the person in the hospital bed.

"Damn it, wake up and tell me I'm wrong already. Tell me what an idiot I am. Wake up. Damn it…"

Mikey didn't wake up. The doctor had said that he'd probably wake up sometime during the night, but already it was morning and he was still unconscious. Raphael hadn't left his brother's side since they let him into the pale, blue, sterilized room. Nobody tried to force him out. Most took one look at his face and left him alone. He must look either really scary or really pathetic. Raph guessed the latter, for he felt more pathetic now then he ever had in his entire life.

He sighed again and rested his forehead against his arms. The night without sleep was starting to catch up to him, but it never occurred to him that he could go. The thought never appeared in his mind that he could leave his brother's side.

He grunted in discomfort as he moved his bandaged hands. His knuckles were in such a bad state that the doctor had asked if they had been run over by a truck. For once, Raph didn't answer; he had nothing to say.

Leo and Mikey's injuries had been the worst. Don had gotten away with bruises and a broken rib, Raph with his hands and a slight concussion from a sucker-punch he had been too slow to dodge. Mikey's shin had been broken cleanly in half; and he had managed to sprain his wrist, probably while hitting Hun. Apart from that he was okay. At least his face didn't feel like it was on fire.

Splinter had never hit them before. He had tripped them and smacked them during practice and so on, but he had never hit them out of rage before. Until now.

It hurt. A lot. More then his head or his hands, it hurt. But what made it even worse was that after Splinter had hit them, he had started to cry. He had cried and held his three still conscience sons tight. He had done so for the entire time Mikey had been in surgery. It had hurt more then anything. Part of him would rather go back to the fight then see Splinter like that.

Leo had been quiet. He had talked even less then Raph, so Donnie had been the one to explain the whole thing, first to Splinter, then filling in the blanks as their father talked to the police. Coral had been taken home as soon as the police had sorted out which boys to arrest and which ones to thank. Don didn't mention Karai's name. Neither did Splinter… even if he had understood.

"Wake up you pea-brain…"

When was the last time he had felt so down? Had ever even been so depressed? Not that he could remember.

"Hey, has he moved?"

Raph didn't turn as the door opened and Don came in; he just shook his head.

Don walked over to the other side of the bed, not in the mood to make Raph move aside. He leaned over the bed and took his sleeping brother's pulse. Raphael watched, his brain and body screaming for sleep but something in him told them to shut the hell up. He couldn't leave yet.

"Are you going to stay here until he wakes up?"

To tired to talk. Nod.

"Are you sure? I mean, even Leo got some sleep after they stitched him up. Apparently there's going to be a nasty scar…"

Raph shifted his weight, still not willing to talk.

"I think you should speak with him. Leo, I mean. I think he needs it."

That was a stupid thing to say. He could muster enough strength to answer that one.

"Leo doesn't need me."

"Yes, he does. If you weren't so busy always picking fights with him you'd know that."

Too tired. Let the stupid smartass think what he wants. He rested his head on his arms again.

Don sighed. He had no idea what to do. Leo had closed himself in his shell, Raph seemed to have run out of his brutal energy, and Mikey wasn't even awake to attempt to lighten the mood. He had no idea how to fix this, or if it was even fixable. He guessed that when Mike woke up, Raph would become more energized. If he could get Raph going then maybe Leo would snap out of his mental shutdown.

Maybe.

Donatello was still standing there when the door opened and Splinter came in, accompanied by a slow-moving, sling-armed Leonardo. The cut had wounded one of his shoulder muscles, making arm movement painful.

"Anything?"

Don shook his head, like Raph had, and glanced at Leo. The oldest brother looked like a house with the lights on but nobody home. He came to a halt halfway between the bed and the door, eyes absently running over the scene.

"He should have awakened by now. Perhaps we should call for a doctor?"

"I think he just needs rest. He'll probably wake up soon. Let's wait a bit."

The aging man sighed heavily, carefully placing a strong yet withered hand on Raphael's shoulder.

"And you, my son, how are you faring?"

Raph just shrugged the hand off.

"Raphael."

Splinter's hand was persistent, gripping on to him a bit harder this time.

"Leave me alone."

"I will not! We are your family, Raphael. We will not let you suffer alone."

Before the longhaired teenager had a chance to reply, a hoarse whisper interrupted him.

"You guys are too loud…"

They all jumped, and even Leo shook out of his daze to take a few steps forward. Don bent over the bed again as his brother pushed himself up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"How are you doing Mike? We were wondering if we had to kiss you to wake you up."

"He he. I'm fine. Leg hurts like hell, though, and I'm a bit thirst…"

Before he got any further, a huge weight crushed him down into the bed, trapped his torso with long arms that threatened to break a few more bones in his body, and breathed against his neck.

"Raph?!"

"If you ever scare me like that again, I swear to God I'll kill you!"

All others in the room just stared as Raph hugged his little brother even tighter, a small sob actually finding it's way into his half-whispered words.

"If you ever do that to me again, I swear I'll kill you, Dumbass…"

Mikey, not even able to remember the last time Raph had shown him any kind of normal proof of affection, apart from the noogies and so on, could only put his hands on his brother's trembling back and whisper back.

"Sorry, bro. I'll be careful next time. I'm sorry."

The others drew back, Don motioning to Mikey that he'd fetch him something to drink. Mike nodded a thank you. On the way out, Splinter tugged Leonardo's arm, as if to wake him. The last to leave, Leo looked one more time to his brothers. In that moment, half of him was filled with relief and happiness, and yet the rest grew cold. She had done this to them. She had hurt them. When was the last time Raphael had cried? When was the last time Mikey had apologized for something that wasn't his fault? When was the last time Splinter had been out of his mind with worry? She had done this to them. And he doubted he could ever forgive her, whatever her reasons were.

But you know her reasons Leonardo, she told them to you.

Shut up.

I will. But you know it's true. You were there.

With those dark thoughts digging themselves deeper and deeper into his heart, Leo closed the door.

"You were really worried, weren't you?"

Now that Mikey was awake and grinning so much his head should split in half, Raph felt like knocking him out again. Settling with a deep sigh, he rubbed his temples with his abused and bandaged fingers.

His brother just smiled, taking his silence for the agreement that it was. He knew Raph loved him, but it was nice to have him show it once in a while.

"It's just a broken leg. I'll be fine in no time."

"I know. Don't change the fact that I was worried about you, pea-brain."

Blinking a bit, Mikey started to realize just how freaked out his brother must have been, admitting something like that.

"How's Leo doing? Must have been such a shocker."

"Leo'll be fine."

"Have you talked to him at all?"

Raph just shook his head, taking a sip of the water Don had smuggled in.

"Shouldn't you? Wait! Does that mean that you've been sitting here all this time?!"

"Don't shout. This is a hospital."

"Wow. Why? Was it that fun to watch me drool?"

Mikey jumped when the bandaged hand left his brother's head to slam down hard on the bed with aloud, guttural growl.

"I didn't want to leave you all alone okay?! It didn't feel right! You're…!"

Raph threw himself back in the chair, hand still in a fist on the bed.

"Look. Don't misunderstand me. I love the others, I really do. But, you're the only one that I can be myself around, ya know? You're the only one that I can pour myself out without you being bothered by it."

His brother leaned forward a bit, not getting to far with his right leg high in the air, but it kept Raph going, like he couldn't stop the flow once he opened the dam.

"You… Splinter keeps trying to make me a better person, Leo always scolds me, Don gets annoyed. But you come looking for it. Every time I try to mellow down you get me all flared up again. Every time I try to change into what people want me to be you push me back. It makes me feel like… Like…"

He gulped down the lump in his throat. No use turning back now, better to just get it all out for once.

"You make me feel like it's ok. Like it's alright to be the person I am. Like I don't have to change at all."

Mikey just stared at him. Leo had mentioned something about Raph growing up or something along those lines, but this was more then he could have imagined. Raphael had never actually talked about his feelings so openly before. It was a bit scary.

"Wow. That was so …cheesy!"

Raph grunted, turning his eyes back to his bedridden brother.

"Don't make me break your other leg too, dumb-shit!"

Laughter was his response as a finger poked him on the nose.

"That's my brother! I got worried that you had grown soft on me there!"

Raph couldn't help but to smile lopsidedly. It was so good to have him back.

"Of course you don't have to change. You're good the way you are. You wouldn't be Raphael otherwise!"

Damn that runt, being able to make him feel human again with just a few words. Raphael decided he could let it slide, just this once. So instead of hitting him Raph just ruffled his brothers hair and laughed with him.

"Damn it, who put these stairs here? I don't remember them being so high!"

"Oh shush, Mike, we're almost at the top."

"Yeah but then there are MORE stairs until I can get to my bed!"

Raphael sighed (he had been doing that a lot since Mike woke up the other day) and unlocked the front door to let Donnie (who was supporting Mikey up the stairs, trying to make him stop whining) in.

Splinter smiled as he closed the truck's door behind Leonardo and walked over from the garage. His sons had returned home. Injured, battle-torn and deeply hurt, but alive. He couldn't help but be relieved.

"I swear, Mike, one more word and I'll leave you to crawl the rest of the way."

"Come on, Donnie!"

"That's three words."

"Get inside, the both of you. Just because I can't hit you don't mean I won't kick you down on the street!"

Leo looked up at his brothers arguing on top of the stairs in front of their home. He knew he should be either smiling or breaking them up, or both, but his body didn't move as he wanted. His thoughts felt jet-lagged, like they were two hours behind him, and his body moved like he was under water. Not to mention his heart.

_No! don't think about it. Don't look at it, not yet. you're not ready to face that damage. Just go inside for now._

Splinter worried over Leonardo's quiet state. It must have been such a shock. Even knowing her name, Splinter would not have believed the radiant girl capable of such hurt. He had seen her with his sons. She had seemed so happy. She had reminded him of a shard of glass, slowly being softened in the waves on a sandy beach, losing it's sharp edges and becoming something even more beautiful.

He closed the door behind them, saving his poor neighbors from the far too familiar noise of his arguing children.

The wounded party settled down in the kitchen. Raph drooped into a chair so hard that the legs squeaked.

"But hot damn, it sucks to be you right now, Leo!"

The other three stiffened, Mikey gulping loudly as he looked at his brother from across the table.

"I mean, that has got to take the prize in suckish break-ups! Should we get you a medal?"

"Raphael, shut up."

Like Raph would pay attention to his brother when Leo didn't even raise his voice above a whisper .

"Or should we give it to Karai? She did stage that fairly well, didn't she! Pretending to be the perfect girlfriend just to screw you ov…!"

"Shut up, Raphael!!"

Leo whammed his still good hand in the table so hard it jumped, a stray glass tipping over.

"Shit! And you keep telling ME to take it easy!"

"Just shut the hell up for once you good-for-nothing thug!"

Raph's turn to abuse the table, though his hand protested against the treatment.

"No need for calling names, oh-so-fearless leader! I'm just telling it like it is!"

"No one needs you to point out the obvious! Do us all a favor and just stay out of it before I smack your brains out!"

"Hey, take it easy, guys. Don't fight. We just got home!"

Raphael actually smiled, leaning against the table, standing to face his brother.

"Let him be, Don. I sorta like this new Leo! Maybe we should have Karai stab him more often!"

"SHUT UP!"

"LEO!"

It's amazing how fast people's minds change over just one tiny detail. If it had been Raph that had stood in the way of Leonardo's hand, the fight might have ended with another trip to the hospital. But it was not Raphael's face the hand connected with, it was Donatello's nose.

It wasn't that hard. Leo had only been trying to wave him off to get a clear shot, but his knuckles slammed into Don's face and the nerd slammed into the counter.

"Don!"

"Shit, you're bleeding!"

"Donnie..?"

A thin, red line made it's way from Don's nostril to his lip, his expression more surprised than anything. His brothers were all turned to him. Leo held out his hand as if to touch his brother; but it stopped halfway to his face, as if he couldn't bring himself to do it after just wounding him with the very same hand.

Don looked up at his brother, older then him by seven minutes, but right then it felt like seven years. His brother looked so haunted, his eyes big and dark, his chin shaking slightly, his lip red from biting.

"Leo? Are you ok?"

That was the last nail in the coffin of Leonardo's sanity. It hit him like a truck on the highway. He had hurt his brother, who had only tried to stop him from doing the same to Raphael. Was there any worse way to act?

_I should protect them! But this is all my fault! They got hurt because I couldn't protect them, because I was to weak! I get them hurt, and when they try to help me, what do I do?_

"Bro?"

Don wiped the thin streak of blood away with his sleeve and reached out to Leonardo, but his hand was pushed away. The blue clad brother shoved him aside and rushed out through the back door.

"LEO?!"

He ignored his brother's calls and threw open the dojo's sliding door and collapsed on the floor, his legs under his body, his unharmed arm thrown out before him.

He screamed.

All the rage and betrayal, all the sorrow and despair making it's way out through his vocal cords. Still it wasn't enough. Still it hurt. His chest felt like Hun was standing on it, crushing it into pieces. His mind almost went white, his fingers clawing at the wooden planks.

_Make it stop! Make it stop! It hurts! Please, Kami, make it stop!_

His screams died down to sobs, his body shaking in submission. He couldn't go on like this, there was just no way. He could not live with a pain like this for the rest of his life. Was this what a samurai wife felt like when she received the news of her husband's death? If so, he could not blame them for taking their own lives. This was unbearable.

A thin hand patted his back, careful not to get to close to his wound. He knew that hand, but this time no gentle touch or kind word could heal him. This was beyond even Splinter.

His father sat there beside him, slowly stroking his back until the tears dried out in Leonardo's eyes and his low whispers faded away. Most of the turmoil in him was gone, but the guilt, the hurt, and the rage were still there like ambers glowing in a fireplace. All it needed was fuel, and it would flare up again. He couldn't live like this.

"Leonardo, I think this is more then I can help you with, my son."

Leo dragged himself upright, his forehead sticking to the floor with sweat. He tilted his heavy head and rested it against his fathers leg. The old hand moved from his back to his hair, the slow stroking movements failing to miss a beat.

"I think you are in need of a change of scenery. Perhaps even a change of air."

He glanced up at his dad. He was so little. Leo had outgrown him in middle school, but now, in this state, Splinter looked just like he had years ago, when Leo had come home crying over a scraped knee. Like he could protect him from everything in the whole world. There was comfort in that, even if he knew now the lack of truth. Just for a moment, Splinter could protect him against everything bad in the world again. He closed his eyes again.

"You have reached the point were I can not teach you anything more. But you have not come to the point were you will stop growing. There is still life in you my son, even if it does not seem that way now. I believe that staying here will give you little of value. Perhaps it's time you seek a new master."

"What?!"

He sat up, almost stood, before Splinter placed his hands gently on his shoulders.

"I can not teach you anymore then you do not already know. I have noticed it in our sparring sessions, and I am certain you have as well. Do not worry, I know a person who can give you what you need to grow."

"But, master Splinter!"

By force of habit, Leonardo could not call him father in the dojo. That had been the first rule they had learned.

Splinter closed his eyes and shook his head, a faint smile tugging his lips. How rare were devoted students these days? His son had reacted to the Bushido like it was already part of his soul, like the words just explained to him WHY he was the way he was.

"Leonardo. You can not heal here. Your brothers will. They are strong, and where they fail I will help them, but you need more. Even when your physical wounds heal, your heart will not. This place will only cause you harm at this point."

Leo knew he was right. Part of his mind was already haunted by the last time he had been practicing in here. She had been with him. His room would probably be even worse. Not to mention school, were he would have to pass her locker to get to most of his morning classes. His heart clenched again.

"But, where would I go? This is the only home I know."

Splinter smiled sadly.

"But it is not the only home you have lived in."

"Hey, do you think Leo's alright?"

"Splinter's talking to him, he'll be fine."

"But they have been out there for hours."

"It's okay. He must feel terrible."

"Will you two be quiet? I'll go up to my own room if you won't shut up."

Mikey threw one of the pillows onto the dark head next to him.

"You said you'd stay!"

"I'll take it back if you don't let me sleep!"

"Are you sure you can't master the stairs? We'll help you."

The injured boy made a noise like an offended cat and squished himself further in between the other two on the makeshift king size bed they had made on the living room floor out of every cushion in the house, Klunk mewing in protest before Mikey could put his hand over the cat's head again.

"Nah, this is cozier. Don't you agree Klunk?"

The soft purring noise made the other two smile despite themselves. Raph was glad that he had already turned his back on his brothers, or else they might have seen him smile. Gasp, the horror!

"How's your nose, Don?"

Don closed his eyes, scratching the cat's soft stomach.

"It's fine, it only bled for a minute anyway. It didn't even hurt that much."

"You guys think Leo will join us when he gets back?"

"Of course he will, feather brain. He's our big brother after all. There is no way he'd ever just leave us."

[Coments still motivate me to no end! X3]


	8. Old Friends

[A/N: lots of naugthy language ahead! just wanted to warn you!]

Old Friends.

Leo cursed. That's what you get for being stubborn. He should have just brought a dictionary. But no, he could speak Japanese. Too bad he was not so sure about the ever-so-complicated kanji

Blowing the hair from his face with an annoyed huff, he tried to find a familiar character on the map over the railroads. The paper in his hand was already damp from his sweat, the intense heat, and the bad air-conditioning. These, of course, did nothing to brighten Leo's mood. He had thought that train stations at home were crowded! Jeez, they couldn't even begin to hold a candle to the ones here in Tokyo! Even away from the thickest part of the crowd, people kept bumping into him as he started to believe that he would never find his way to his grandfather's house. He took a look at the big clock hanging over the mass of black-haired heads.

They were probably asleep by now. It was late back home. He just hoped they were having better dreams then he'd had for the last week.

A rather big guy, perhaps a couple of years older then himself, bumped into Leo so hard that he almost fell over. The big boy flashed him a grin with a muttered "Sumimasen," and kept walking on. Leo just shook his head in annoyance, turning back to the board. Just a second later, he heard an angry shout. He looked back over his shoulder to see a thinner boy say something angry to the big guy that had bumped into Leo, snatching something from his hand and stomping his way over to Leonardo.

"Gomennasai!"

The thinner boy gave a deep bow that made his high ponytail slide down over his shoulder. In his hand was Leo's wallet.

"Ah! What the..?"

Leonardo then realized how long ago it had been since he had slept. His senses were dull and slow, and it had given the big guy the opportunity to do some handy pick-pocketing.

He bowed back and took it, stuttering out an "Arigatou."

The other boy grinned, said something Leonardo didn't quite catch, probably another apology, and turned to where the bigger boy was waiting for him. Leo decided to swallow his pride. The guy with the ponytail seemed like a nice guy, and the shinai strapped to his back gave Leo a feeling that he would not turn his back on someone in need.

"Sumimasen."

Leo chased after the two, his heavy bags weighing him down. Luckily, they heard him and turned. He took a deep breath and politely addressed the thin boy that had helped him.

He could feel the roughness in his pronunciation. But the boy understood.

"Anata ga eigo o hanashimasuka?"

"Yes, a little bit. What may I help you with?"

The way he talked reminded Leo of Splinter. The same formality and slight hesitation over the words. He held out the paper.

"I'm sorry, but could you please just tell me what train I'm supposed to take? I can't find it."

The big one said something under his breath. Probably something very insulting.

"Gennosuke…"

The boy apparently named Gennosuke just shrugged and held up his hands. Leo started to wonder what their relationship was like. They didn't seem like they appreciated each others' company. He was drawn back from his thoughts as the thin boy made a surprised sound and handed the note back to him.

"I can take you all the way to the front gate."

"Really? But..?"

The boy smiled and motioned for Leo to follow.

"I live right next door, so it is no trouble. But we have to hurry a bit, the train is departing."

Part of his tired brain told him that running after a stranger to board a train that he did not really now where it was heading was a bad idea. However, something inside of him told Leonardo that he could trust the older boy. Told him that he was honorable. Not even the company of the guy that had picked his pocket could dampen the feeling. Down a flight of stairs and across a platform… The doors to the train closed just behind them, scraping against Leo's backpack.

The odd trio panted imperceptibly, looking around for available seats. Finding none, they remained by the doors, leaning against the big windows.

"I am Miyamoto Usagi. This is my friend Gennosuke. I'm terribly sorry about him. I have tried to make him stop doing things like that, but he refuses to listen to me."

Leo managed to smile and nod in return. Somehow he was reminded of April and Casey, of her fast determination to make the thuggish man behave against all odds. Though he doubted Usagi and his friend would ever end up as his friends had. He shook his head clear and introduced himself

"Hamato Leonardo. I don't really mind right now, mainly because I managed to bump into you. Without that I would have missed the train. Thank you"

Part of him wanted to cause a riot, scream, and beat the Gennosuke boy up, but Leonardo was tired and the other boy was pretty big and he looked strong.

Bad idea. save it for another time.

"Hamato? Are you a relative of The Ancient One then? There can't be many with that name."

Apparently, his name interested even Gen, as he turned and grunted out a question, to which Usagi only nodded.

"I'm his grandson, ano Mago."

Urgh…he needed this. His Japanese was rustier then he had thought.

Usagi actually let out a surprised laugh. He smiled brightly and griped Leo's shoulder.

"Then we have already met! You have three brothers right, all the same age as you? I attended your first birthday party!"

Leo just blinked at him. Part of him whined at the thought of his brothers, their disappointed faces from when he had said good bye haunting him. Mikey had cried. Raph had just glared at him and stomped up the stairs, slamming his door shut. Don had looked so lost.

"I can't say I remember it though, I was only three years old. But it is nice to met old friends again."

Leo brushed away the sad thoughts for a moment (God knows how hard THAT had been when he landed in a country where almost every girl had pagecut, black hair, and slim shoulders) and smiled at him.

"Yes. This is a pleasant surprise."

Usagi detected the pain in his eyes and the scent of tears in his voice. He understood that this grandson of Hamato's, this boy that he had only met briefly at the beginning of their lives, had been hurt, and was hurting still. He was shaken, broken, and in pain. At this point, Usagi knew he could do almost nothing. He did not know the cause of his pain nor his reason to come here, but he would be staying only a few feet away. In time, perhaps he would come to a point where he needed help. If that was so, Usagi felt he should provide it. His own father had always spoken warmly of the Hamatos. If Leonardo would need a friend in this country, he would not have to look far.

She had no idea what she was doing in front of her locker. She had not been to school since… last week. She sighed a bit and opened the thin metal door, flipping through its content to find what she needed for first period. Home had threatened to drive her crazy, the walls closing in on her and the pavement under her window looking way too appealing.

Just as she placed the last book on her arm, a fisted hand slammed the locker shut. Karai was not surprised. It had been hard to miss the flaming aura of anger headed towards her.

"What can I help you with miss Tetsu?"

"Don't you 'miss Tetsu' me! You're going to explain what the hell that shit last weekend was!"

"Mind your language, there is no need…."

The fist slammed into the metal again, making a hollow sound that made certain that the rest of the student body would skip first class to find out what was going on.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID TO HIM? DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE DID?"

Karai braced herself. Explaining something to Coral while she was angry was a bit like trying to break down a concrete wall with your bare hands. Also, it required knowledge of when to duck. Karai could do both.

"Did he jump off the Brooklyn bridge?"

Without even looking at her (ex)friend, Karai dropped her books. They hit Coral's foot just as it passed her knee, bringing her attempted kick off balance. Karai took a step backward and threw her arm out, hitting the shorter girl's cheek. They both retreated, Coral rubbing the corner of her mouth.

"He left, you moron! He's gone to Japan and he ain't comin' back any time soon!"

"Must be sad for you and the other little wannabe-ninjas. I fail to see why this would interest me."

Coral snapped and threw herself at Karai.

"BECAUSE HE'S YOUR FRIKEN BOYFRIEND, DUMBASS!"

Karai was growing tired of this name-calling. Could she at least come up with something original? Corals wrist was grabbed and a hard fist hit her square in the solar plexus. Yanking her closer, Karai shoved her knee into her stomach and then slammed her into the wall of lockers.

She watched the other girl pant, trying to keep herself up against the wall. Coral was no threat. What little fighting she knew, Karai had either seen or taught her. Then she remembered the first rule of battle.

"I'm taking you down today, BITCH!"

The jade eyed girl just managed to dodge a foot that would surely have broken a rib or two had she not remembered never to underestimate an opponent.

"You have never beaten me before!"

"I've never wanted to HURT you before!"

There was another kick. it missed Karai's cheek by a fingerbreadth and hit the corner of the locker. The thin metal bent, broke, and tore open like a piece of paper. For a second Karai realized there was something different about her oldest friend. Perhaps actually wanting to cause pain was the motivation Coral needed. The second it took for her to ponder over this earned Karai a fist in the gut, though not as well placed as her own. She grabbed at Corals shirt to throw her, but apparently something had stuck into the thick head of the other girl, because the next second Karai herself tossed over Coral's hip.

Close, but Coral had a green belt, Karai had been way beyond black at the tender age of ten.

Karai landed on her toes, not her back as Coral had intended. Saki's heir then twisted around and smashed her fist into the leg she had just been tossed over, hitting the unprotected hamstring. The other girl let out a yelp and crashed down to the floor, her arm pinned to her back by the girl she had always thought of as her comrade.

"Are you quite done yet, miss Tetsu?"

There was a roar, the body twisted, and Karai had to take back her thought about Coral not being original in her name calling when faced with the rant that came out of her now. She twisted the arm a bit and the flow of words came to a halt when the floored girl bit her lip so as not to scream.

"Now then, you asked for an explanation about last weekends events. Though I hate having to repeat myself, I will take it again for you, slowly."

She took the grunt as a "Thank you."

"I used you."

She heard the breath come to a halt in the body under her.

"All of you. At first, I had planned to use you as a cover, a decoy, a part of my charade. You were just the right person, too. Far too bubble brained and naive to ever suspect that I was merely taking advantage of you. Who would think me a bad girl with cheerful little Tetsu Sango as my best friend?"

Corals free hand almost crushed its own fingers. If it was the lie Karai told her or the use of her hated first name, Karai didn't know. Now, of all times, she began to wonder just why Coral hated her Japanese name so much. Now she would never know.

"Do you understand? This was a game. I never liked you, Sango."

Her captive's knuckles cracked. But a thin voice made it's way out.

"Why Leo?"

The name stabbed her like a dagger. Inhale, lie, exhale. That was the plan.

"Because he was the perfect choice. Skilled in the art of ninpo, presented with loyal backup and of course…"

She took the time to flip her ebon hair away from her face and bend down a bit to whisper.

"Head over heels for the forever-out-of-reach school princess. He would never suspect an ulterior motive."

She felt Corals body relax, as if all her strength had simply run out like water over a hillside. One last comment should do it.

"It was almost too easy."

The muscles under her snapped back into fighting mode. Coral turned her head slightly, her cheek pressed to the floor.

"I've got a piece of advice for you, Karai…"

Karai met her eyes. Hate. That was a look of pure hate. Good.

_She hates me and she gets to keep on living. That is good enough. It _must _be good enough_.

"Die young, 'cause there will be NO ONE to care for you when you grow old!"

Karai had now succeeded in making the two people who concerned themselves the most about her eudemonia hate her. Still, Coral was a thicker breed then Leonardo. Her hate only lasted as long as her bruises. Time to make one last point, one that would be hard to forget.

"Noted."

With that, Karai pulled Corals' arm up into the air and brought her other hand down as hard as she could on the twisted shoulder.

Breaking anything in the upper half of the body is harder than it looks, but dislocating the arm clear off the shoulder is a bit easier. It is also in the top ten most painful injuries, right up there by having a rodent gnaw its way out your ass and getting shot in the kneecap. It would also take Coral six months before she would be using that arm properly again.

Karai saw the girls eyes widen until they almost fell out their sockets, then heard the glass-breaking shriek as the arm thudded to the floor, held in place only by skin and muscles. Her body cramped in pain and little bubbles of foam was starting to form in the corners of her mouth. Karai stood and stepped aside.

The crowd gasped and drew back simultaneously. There was screaming and pushing, nobody willing to leave but all a bit afraid of the still standing fighter.

For a second Karai met the eyes of a person in the crowd. It was Susie. Her face was pale and her eyes almost as wide as Corals', her hands pressed over her mouth in horror. One more friend to cross off the list.

Some of the teenagers where shoved out of the way as another familiar figure entered the ring.

"Jesus Christ, CORAL!"

Raphael's eyes flew over Karai before he slid down on the floor by the shaking girl, worry written all over his face. A small sob escaped the trembling body and a twitching hand grabbed the black fabric of his pants. His eyes dodged back to Karai, this time flaming in rage.

"You insufferable piece of shit… Your ass is mine, girl or not!"

Karai had no doubt he would have thrown himself at her in the same manner that Coral had, but he didn't even get his knees off the ground. The shaking hand was still holding on to him tightly, something similar to his name making its was out between the injured girl's lips. His resolve seemed to weaken a bit, and Karai took the opportunity to turn her back on them and walk away, the students parting for her like the red sea for Moses. There was no point in fighting any more. She had done what she needed to do here.

That, and she had figured out which brother it was.

Coral had always had a thing for bad boys. All those action movies should have been hint enough. Too bad Karai had no more need for such information. She let the school doors swing close behind her.

"And then?"

Leo gulped. Splinter had never spoken much of their grandfather, so the old man's last comment about the even older man; "Just bear with him, he is cold in the beginning" had made him a bit worried. True enough, the ancient one did not really act like a grandfather. He did not seem happy to see his grandson for the first time in fourteen years and he refused to call Leo anything but "Kumquat".

"And then the police arrived. We were taken to the hospital, Mikey was operated on, and they stitched up my wound. They let us go home in the afternoon."

The old man grunted, almost like he disapproved. Leo could feel himself getting more and more irritated.

"To let yourself be fooled by a woman. Kumquat ! You be worse ninja then even Splinter-san!"

"DON'T TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT!"

The Ancient one just blew air out his nose and waved him off. The whole conversation had been like that. The old man would plant a hint of an insult against Splinter in his words and finally Leo just couldn't sit quiet any more. No matter how much he tried to explain or how loud he yelled, the Ancient One wouldn't react much, only continue his questioning.

"If that is all the reason you have to come crawling back here, I pity you for your training. Go clean out the dojo! We start your real training at dawn!"

The old man left and Leo had to take a deep breath to keep himself from hitting something. He let out an annoyed huff and stood, hoping the dojo was not unspeakably messy. It was already late.

Pondering over how his day just kept getting better and better, he emptied the bucket of water over a small bush by the porch. At first glance, the dojo had looked just fine. But that was only until he realized that everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. This place had not seen a cleaning day in years. It was way past midnight now, but at least you could walk around in there without sweeping up clouds and clouds of dust.

The teenager sat himself down with a heavy sigh. He just had to dust of the little shrine at the shomen and he was done. Apparently, the Ancient One hadn't used the place at all for a long time. He obviously hadn't even bothered to have it cleaned. Then a thought struck him.

What if he was the first to enter this place from fourteen years?

Leonardo stood again, the floorboards crying silently under him. He walked inside and looked at the dark wood, worn and way older then he could even imagine. He sat down in front of the small and simple shrine, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes.

This was where his father had trained Splinter. This was the origin of everything he knew and loved.

Somehow, he felt like crying. He was so far away from home but yet, he could almost remember being here before. He didn't know what he was supposed to feel anymore.

After a while, he took up the rag and swept off every inch of the little shrine before he stood again, walked back into the house where he had been assigned a room, and fell asleep. He didn't even notice the crib in the corner of the room, even if it was a rather big one.

[A/N: Nothing as sweet as comments in my inbox! Makes me want to write all night long!]


	9. A Song For Her

[A/N: These next three chapters will be a bit shorter then the others, and a lot more cheerful. You can see them as filler episodes in the story about Leo and Karai, because they don't have much plot development. Their purpose is more or less to give you guys a picture of how the brothers deal with Leo's departure and how they developed love lives of their own! Don't worry about the lack of Leo and Karai, they will have their own chapters soon enough! Hope you enjoy!]

A Song For Her

The metal in the locker door was cool against his forehead. For once in his life, Donatello did not enjoy school. The past weeks had been rough on him; on all of them. The house was so quiet without Leo and now there was nobody to stop Raph from throwing himself into fights night and day. He had hardly been home at all. And when he DID show up he just grunted, patched himself up, ate everything he could find and left again. Don wondered where he had slept that night. He hadn't been home.

Don locked himself in his room, coming out only for food and school. He hadn't talked to anyone for more then a week. His family left him alone, knowing how he preferred to deal with hard times. Nothing keeps your spirits up like drowning yourself in research!

Still, he was done with his project now, and the disappointment he felt for his brother's departure had faded into a dull bruise on his heart. Time to get back into the world again. He knew the first person he wanted to see.

He rounded the corner and smiled as he swathe back of her. Sidney always looked so good in dark blue. He touched her shoulder and beamed at her.

"Hey. Do you want to do something after school?"

To his surprise, she inhaled deeply, like she was trying to hold back a scream. Then she smiled, a false, way-to-wide grin and replied in a much-too-cheerful tone.

"I know something you can do all by yourself!"

"Eh?"

He drew back at she glared at him and spat,

"Go kill yourself! It's FUN!"

She slammed her locker shut at the last word and marched off with angry steps. Don had no idea what just happened.

"She's mad at you. Did you notice?"

Don sighed and turned to face his little brother and found not only him but a grinning Susie as well. Mikey was doing much better, his leg healing at a rate that made the doctors look twice at the charts whenever he came in for a checkup. Still, Susie had offered to help carry his books until he had free use of his arms again.

"Yeah. Now I only have to figure out what I did."

"Dude, you didn't talk to her for two weeks!"

"I didn't talk to ANYONE!"

Susie shook her head. Boys. They never understood.

"She's your girlfriend. You're supposed to make an exception!"

Don grunted loudly and fell back against the lockers. Suppose ignoring a girl for fourteen days would piss her off. She wasn't used to him like his family was. She couldn't have know that he didn't mean any harm by it.

"So, what are you gonna do, bro?"

Don looked up at Mikey. His whole body seemed to signal that he was ready to do anything to help. Count on Mike to come to your aid you when you're in a pinch. Even when hanging on his crutches he seemed like he was ready to take a dive from the roof down into the school's pool if it would help his brother. Then again if the bet was high enough; whatever floats your boat.

"I have a new project."

"Oh? What's it about this time?"

Don smiled. As much as he appreciated his brother's help, he had gotten into this mess on his own. For it to count, he had to fix it on his own. Tough but logical.

"I call it Operation Win her back! Wish me luck, bro!"

Mikey laughed and high-fived him as they parted, and Don's brain did what it did best; it formed plans.

"Just forgive him! He's always like that. He didn't talk to anyone! He never does when he gets like that."

Sidney made a face at the other girl and unwrapped her baguette from the plastic. Curse exams. She was too tired in the morning to make lunch, so she had to buy it at school. Coral, on the other hand had what she always had; leftovers from the restaurant. Though only having her left arm at her disposal made it hard for her to use chopsticks.

"That is beside the point. I'm mad at him, so I won't forgive him."

"That's childish! You know he cares a lot about you!"

"I just wished he had told me he wouldn't be responding for a while before he shut everyone out. I was scared something had happened to him before I talked to Mikey."

The beef still managed to slip away from the Asian girl's attempts to catch it, but she was dead set on not going hungry. Even when arguing with her friend she managed to focus most of her energy upon making her left hand move as she wanted it. She was used to mind-battling Karai, damn it! Sidney was child's play!

"But he's fine and he's sorry! What more do you want from him? He actually managed to fill your locker with lilies! I still have no idea how he did that."

"He's friends with one of the janitors, Mr. Layne."

Coral looked up with a sheepish expression.

"Oh… Yeah that would seem like a doable plan."

The piece of meat that the girl had finally managed to get hold on slipped and landed on the rice with a small splat. The long-haired girl whined like a dog and stared at it.

Sidney finally took pity on Coral and took the chopsticks and the box of food and pulled it to her, switching it for her own lunch. Coral looked up at her and grinned.

"Thanks! Guess I should stick to finger-food for a while huh?"

"Would seem like a good idea, yes."

"Forgive him."

"I will."

"When, in two weeks?"

Sidney looked up at her, then back at the food, taking a bite.

"Damn it Sid! He will be in pieces by then!"

"Ought to teach him not to ignore me like that again."

Coral took a bite of the sandwich, muttering about evil girlfriends. Sidney smiled a devious smile and handed her a napkin for the tuna spreading over her cheeks.

"Note, my dear friend, that I'm only ignoring him. I have yet to break up with him."

Coral sighed, swallowed, and wiped her mouth.

"I'm glad I'm a girl sometimes. I'll never have to endure trying to figure out the ways of a girlfriend."

Sidney snorted and took a bite.

"Lucky you."

The West hallway was almost empty when Sidney went to leave her books in her locker after the last lesson. It was no sport spotting the grumpy figure leaning against the wall.

"You look like hell."

"Stop making life harder on Donnie. He sure as hell don't need it right now!"

Sidney rolled her eyes at Raph and swung the little door open.

"I don't like being ignored."

"I don't like broccoli or having to change my underwear every day but hey, guess what!"

She glared at him before starting to pack her bag. Another night of studying and then she was done with all the tests.

"This is between your brother and me. Nobody asked for you to interfere."

Raph pushed himself upright and leaned his elbow against the locker next to hers. Anyone who didn't know Raphael Hamato would be scared by the predatory move, but Sidney knew him well enough to know it would take a lot more for him to hurt a girl.

"Ah, but you see, dolly, Don's my BROTHER, and anyone who makes him feel bad I make 'em pay up."

Sidney snorted and slammed the locker shut.

"And yet last I talked to Mike he said that he almost felt like an only child now-a-days. Wonder what his reliable big brother has done to remedy that."

Raphael's eyes widened and then narrowed in rapid succession as he leaned his back against the hollow surface, his hands in his pockets, shoulders by his ears.

"I can't… Do it like Leo does. I can't keep 'em together like he did. I have no idea what to do to make them feel okay."

"No one's asking you to be Leo."

His eyes went dark, shoulders slumped, his voice full of self-disappointment.

"Of course not. They know I can't make it."

She didn't really know what to say. She could tell him that he was wrong, but she doubted he would listen. She hated wasting words on people who didn't listen. She knew someone who was better at handling the moping thug.

"Give this to Coral for me will you?"

He looked a bit startled at the empty lunchbox in her hand. The change of topic reminded him of something, though.

"How's her arm?"

"She's got a pocket full of painkillers. Her arm is fine. It's the rest I'm worried about."

He sighed and took the box. He hadn't talked to Coral since he had visited her at the hospital. He had realized something quite unnerving that day.

"I'll give it to her."

"Thank you. Though I don't know how she'll react to that black eye of yours."

"She's used to seeing me like this."

Sidney doubted that. He looked deflated, like a zombie. He wasn't even putting up a fight.

"I hardly think so. Don't worry about Donnie. I'll forgive him."

"He won't last two weeks."

She smiled at him.

"Maybe he will if his big brother supported him instead of running around getting beat up."

He glared at her as she turned her back and walked away. She remembered what Coral had said about them being more than brothers. Leo's leaving had been a bit like chopping off a leg from a table. It could still stand but it just didn't hold up as well as it had before.

"I hope he comes back soon."

No one would ever blame Donatello for being a quitter. He managed just fine to stay out of Sidney's way for four days, but everywhere she went she was reminded that he was sorry. She was starting to wonder just how many lilies he had bought. Not that there where mountains of them at every place, but they where in her locker, on her desk, on her doorstep when she got home, in the basket on her bicycle in the morning. He had even sent some to the church where she had choir-practice. It got harder and harder to be mad at him.

Friday was different, though. Her bike was empty, just like her locker. She actually started wondering if he had given up. It hadn't been a week yet. Part of her doubted it, but lunch passed and there was no sign of him anywhere. She was just about to give her hopes up when Susie came out of nowhere, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her off.

"Where are we going? Class is about to start!"

"You have to see this! That guy's insane!"

Her heart almost stopped. She could only guess who she was talking about and calling him insane could not bode well for whatever he had done now. To her surprise Susie pulled her up the stairs, tugging her up to the top floor. Sidney got more and more worried and confused. Whenever they would pass a hallway on the way up she could see students hanging out the windows and she heard the faint sound of music.

They finally got up on the roof, Susie did not want to waste a moment but ran over to the place where Coral was standing. For some reason, Sidney was sure that if she had been able to move both hands, she would have been clapping. As it was now, she just grinned and waved her over to the fence facing the north part of the schoolyard. She walked over and looked down, the music loud in her ears now. She couldn't help but to smile. It was really hard to be angry at him now.

The north part of the schoolyard was the part that was the most neglected. It was just asphalt and a couple of wooden benches and tables firmly anchored into the ground. There was little light and often windy.

But today it looked different. The grey ground was replaced by a huge mural of colors. Mostly it was surprisingly accurate drawings of flowers, but also birds and nice sceneries, as well as abstract colorful shapes. It was all done in chalk as far as she could tell, but that was not the end of it.

On one of the large wooden tables almost in the middle there was a familiar figure with dark short hair seated. In his hands he held a guitar and in front of him was a microphone. She smiled a bit at the sight of the two persons behind the table, one seated at a drum set and the other sitting on one of the speakers. The music was almost overwhelming.

She didn't know that Don could sing too.

"HE-EY JULIE-ET!"

She smiled. Must have been to hard to find a song with her name.

"I think, your fine!

You really blow my mind!

Maybe!

Someday!

You and me could run away!

I just want you to know…

I wanna be your Romeo!

He-ey Juliet! Hey Juliet!"

Susie bumped her a bit, Coral poked her from the other side.

"Okay, okay. I'll forgive him. Must have taken him forever to make that!"

"All night! And he didn't want any help at all!"

She smiled even wider and took up her cell phone as the last tunes faded away. Shouting would do little good, mostly since the entire school seemed to be cheering for more from the windows.

She saw him interrupt himself in the middle of waving and take up his own cell. Then he looked up, finding her at once. He must have asked the girls to take her to the place where she would have the best view. She could honestly see his big smile as he made an "Okay" sign in the air and then moved on to unplug the guitar.

"What did you say?"

Sidney looked at Susie with a soft smile and turned her back on the fence.

"Just to remember to pick me up at my locker after school so he can take me to practice. Nothing much."

With that, she left her friends and walked downstairs, mingling into the crowd. She was a bit sad that the mural would probably wash away during the next rain, but then again, it somehow made it even more special. It was simply impossible to be mad at a boy who would spend an entire night painting a field of asphalt just so his girlfriend would forgive him.

Sure enough, he was standing by her locker at the last bell. He had dark circles under his eyes and colorful stains all over his clothes but he was smiling like a sun. She kissed him on the cheek and held up a finger to his nose.

"Never ignore me again. Next time your shutting out the world you bring me with you. I'll help you with whatever project you're working on."

"Okay! I promise."

She giggled and kissed him again.

Who said that nerds didn't know how to treat a girl? Whoever had listened must be kicking themselves in jealousy by now, 'cause Sidney knew of no jock who would go through all this just to be forgiven.

Even when he messed up, Don was the perfect boyfriend.

[A/N: the song is "Hey Juliet" by LMNT, that i actualy found due to a typo when i was looking for TMNT pictures! life is funny sometimes! XD Comments make me so happy!]


	10. Easiest Thing In The World

Easiest Thing in the World

Mikey sat on the porch, watching his father argue with Coral. He had just finished with his own training, and he had half a mind to go skating before hitting the shower. It was so warm, he was going to sweat no matter what he did. However, his friend's loud voice disrupted his train of thoughts.

"WHY NOT?"

She had asked the same question for the last five minutes, just a little louder every time. Splinter's voice was as calm as ever.

"Because it will not work. I told you so four years ago. What I teach here is not something that you are adept to learn."

She growled and hit the floor with her left hand. She would have hit it with her right, but it was still wrapped in bandages.

"And why not? You taught Raph and he's just as hotheaded as I am!"

Mikey sighed and scratched the scar on his leg. It had been almost two months since the fight with Karai and the purple dragons, and his leg was as good as new. Coral didn't need the sling any more, but she could barely lift her arm above her waist. Still, she had gotten it in to her head that she had to get back to practice. She intended to work with her left arm until her right one healed, but things were not working out for her.

"It has nothing to do with that, my dear. You and my son are very different in a fundamental way. It is that difference that makes it impossible for you to learn what I can teach you."

"And what is that?"

Mikey decided to stick around for this. Besides the obvious physical factors, he knew very little about what separated his brother from Coral. Well, Except she could cook and he was a bit better at building an engine.

Splinter took a deep breath. He had to explain this in the right way. It was far too easy to say it wrong and damage her forever. He would not want that. She was a dear friend to his sons, rivaled only by April and Casey.

"The difference between you two is that while my sons are people who fights to protect others, you fight only for yourself."

Mikey almost opened his mouth to disagree. He couldn't count the times Coral had taken the blame for something he had done. Coral beat him to it.

"What? So, I'm like a bad guy, is that it?"

Splinter smiled. He had seen his fair share of martial-arts movies, and Coral's type was usually portrayed as the bad guys'. That is, the people who didn't fight to protect others but to gain strength for themselves. He believed the outlook to be very unfair.

"No, that is not what I mean. Please calm down and listen."

The girl growled and sunk down like a sack of potatoes, glaring at him from under her messy hair. Well, at least she was being quiet.

"Fighting to protect others is the way my master Yoshi taught me. He made me swear on my life never to use what he taught me to harm another human being. I was never to fight for myself, but to protect what was important to me. That is what I have taught my sons as well."

Splinter glanced at his youngest son and smiled softly before continuing.

"All four of them are people adept to just that; protecting. You, my dear Coral, you are not a person meant to protect others. It does not mean that you are a bad person, it just means that you have a different way of thinking."

"Different how?"

"Yeah, master Splinter! How does that work?"

Splinter waved for Mikey to come back in and watched as the two teenagers sat up in a more proper manner, Coral's curiosity overwhelming her annoyance at the moment.

"Let us create an example. Let us say the two of you are fighting a common enemy. You have your backs against each other as you try to fend them off. The difference between you is that while Michelangelo will focus on making sure you are not hurt, you, Coral, will be focusing on beating your enemy, trusting Michelangelo to fend for himself."

"So, in short, I'm selfish?"

Splinter smiled again. It was easy to say yes, but there was more to it.

"Not quite. It's more trusting then selfish. Unlike all of my sons, you do not worry about how to protect your friends. You believe them capable of standing up for themselves without your help. Whether you are right or not is another matter, but you're way of thinking regarding your friends is that you believe them either as strong or stronger than yourself. If they can not win, you can not help them, anyway."

He watched as the girl pondered over what he had said. Mikey gave it some thought, too. It was really easy when you had seen the whole thing happen.

"Suppose it would be hard for you to think differently, though. All your life you've been hanging around people who are better fighters then you."

That loud thought got him a fist in the arm. Splinter sighed but did not protest. It would be a reasonable explanation.

"Aoie! It's true! First you came here two days a week and watched Leo and Master Splinter and then you started hanging out with Raph and Casey and then with Kar…"

Mikey bit his tongue when he saw the twitch in Corals right arm. He cleared his throat and kept going, intent to smooth over his mistake.

"Of course, you'd feel like you didn't have to worry about your comrades when you're used to those kind of people."

"Than how come you don't have the same problem, huh, wise guy?"

Mikey flashed her a cocky grin and leaned back on his hands.

"'Cause I'm awesome!"

There was a grunt and a sweep of a leg aimed for his hip. Mikey had to roll over with a little shriek so he wouldn't get hit. Back up, sitting on his knees, he held out his hands in a typical " Don't hurt me I didn't mean it like that" gesture.

"Okay, okay! Like this! You're lucky, ya know. You never had a brother who would always get himself in wa-ay over his head so that poor me had to come bail him out! I mean, I don't remember once coming to a new school or class or whatever without Raph instantly picking a fight with the roughest person there. I've covered his back so many times I've never had a chance to doubt that I'm needed. I've always had equal ground with my brothers okay? You didn't get that chance."

"Aeh! Don't matter anyway! You still won't teach me, will you, Splinter?"

Glad to be out of the crossfire again, Mikey lay down on his stomach as his father shook his head with a gentle smile.

"Man, what a total drag…!"

"Maybe you could take up boxing?"

"Maybe you could shove it?"

Mikey's turn to make a grumpy noise.

"Hey, don't dismiss me just like that. Maybe it would be good for you to focus more on your arms then on those mean kicks of yours."

Coral was about to say something quite mean back, but stopped as she thought about it. Maybe it was not such a bad idea.

"Hey, that might actually work."

"I would think it possible, yes. Perhaps it is worth a try?"

"Yeah! Thanks Mike! You actually said something useful!"

"Don't sound so damn surprised… I'm not an idiot!"

All the response he got was a laugh and a nudge on the head as the girl bowed shortly at Splinter and left. Still, he had to say something.

"Well, break a leg, Coral!"

" I'd rather not! The arm's bad enough!"

As the door in the fence shut, he dragged himself to the edge of the porch and started putting on his sneakers. He felt his father come up beside him. Tying the last knot he looked up at the old man.

"Do you think it will do her any good?"

Splinter had just been wondering the same thing. Perhaps more brute force was better than techniques when it came to the young woman's ways.

"At least, it will do her spirit good to have something to do while she heals. I just hope Raphael and Leonardo can find something like that."

"But Leo's fine, right? He wouldn't go all around the world if it didn't work right? He wouldn't leave us if he wasn't sure…?"

Splinter patted his head with a reassuring smile. A small nod was all it took to regain Mikey's unquestioning smile. The trust he had in Leonardo and Splinter was hard to break.

"Well, I was thinking of going skating along the riverside! I'll be home for dinner!"

"Please buy milk on the way home!"

Mikey threw his father a thumbs up as he left the same way Coral had, grabbing his skateboard on the go.

He wasn't really surprised to find Susie on the half pipe. She was just as addicted to skating as Mikey was. It was a bit funny because her scraped knees and elbows, together with her freckled cheeks and skinny limbs, made her look much younger then she actually was. Man, though! She could do such an awesome Ollie 360!

After blowing off a good set of steam they both got smoothies at the ice-cream parlor by the riverside and sat watching the street with the sun blazing on their backs. She told him about her father's newest invention and they agreed that it was convenient having a nerd in the family when stuff broke down. Then Mikey told her about Coral's latest fit and that Don was going over to Sid's every day with no exceptions and that Raph had started sleeping at home at least three days a week, but that nobody had any idea what he was doing the other nights, or even during the days. And then he told her that Leo had yet to write a single letter.

"Don't they have emails in Japan?"

"They do, but Splinter warned us that it was very likely that granddad doesn't even own a computer. So it's ye old postman we have to rely on."

She bumped his shoulder a bit.

"Don't look so down, he's probably just really busy. Either that, or he doesn't know what to write. Don't worry, he'll write soon enough."

The bright-eyed boy rolled his skateboard back and forth with his feet and pouted.

"What if he doesn't miss us at all?"

"Don't be silly! He's probably homesick and afraid that if he writes, he'll get even sicker! He's your brother, of course he misses you guys."

The pout lessened, but no smile yet.

"I miss you when you're not around!"

He looked at her, smiling just a little bit. She was grinning back with her board in her lap over her crossed legs. She was a bit cute like that, with the sun framing her in gold and backlighting her red hair so it looked like it was on fire.

"Really? But you see me here every day even now when school's out!"

She bumped him again and took the last sip from her smoothie.

" I can still miss you."

He smiled and leaned a bit against her side. Looking out over the crowd he voiced another thought that popped into his head.

"I miss Karai…"

She looked at him, face warped into a skeptical mask. He hadn't seen the look on the girl's face as she took down Coral, but he had been there when the ambulance-drivers had popped her shoulder back in place before they moved her. It had hurt, probably more then popping it out of place to begin with. It took a cruel person to cause such harm.

"Really?"

"Well, I miss the old Karai, the one that hung out with us. She was good for Leo. She was special to him, ya know? Someone he could tell everything to. I miss her."

She put her cheek on his shoulder. He did have point. She had been nice.

"Yeah. I miss that Karai too."

"Why do people make their lives so complicated? I mean, it's really easy!"

Susie sat up and smiled at him again. He gesticulated out on the street as he continued.

"I mean, dude, it's so simple! You live, you eat, you sleep, you go to school, you get a job and you marry someone and then you have kids and then you die."

He sighed and leaned back on his hands on the low brick wall.

"Why do people have to make up stuff to complicate it? Like, take Raph! He's had a crush on Coral for years, but he won't admit it cause he can only think of her as a friend. It's stupid."

"You know that Coral has a crush on Raph too, right?"

He looked at her with wide eyes, then he thought about it.

"That would explain a lot…"

"Like what?"

"Well, like the time Raph and Casey where missing a part for their new bike, and she spent an entire day digging through the junk yard trying to find it. Or all the times she'd show up at the door with a bag of barbequed meat just to cheer him up. Damn, there are a lot of stuff that they've done like that."

"Do you think they know?"

Mikey smiled at her and shrugged.

"We're Hamatos! We're late bloomers!"

She laughed and he joined her, explaining further.

"And that's what I mean! They make it so damn hard on themselves! It's easy! If you like someone…"

"Yeah."

"And they like you back…"

"Yeah."

"Then that's all there is to it right?"

"Yeah, I think so."

And that was when he noticed that for every "yeah" she had leaned closer, and, look at that! So had he. Might as well prove a point then. It was nice, and her lips still tasted like strawberry smoothie. As they parted again, he smiled at her.

"Like that…!"

She giggled and her cheeks turned pink. Easy as pie. Why did everyone make such a fuss over how hard it was to get a girlfriend?

"I have to buy milk on the way home. Will you come with me?"

"Sure!"

Nothing more to it, really. All that's left is to skate off into the sunset.

[A/N: Feedback? Please? Next chapter goes to Raph! Then we are back in buissnes! X3]


	11. Unsaid Is Unheard

|A/N: Oh you guys love me now dont ya? I'll admit, this chapter is one of the major reasons I started writing this story in the first place! XD Enjoy!]

Unsaid Is Unheard

Raphael's life was shit. It was Leo's fault, like always.

He knew he was being unfair, but it didn't stop him from thinking that way. Ever since Leo left abandoned them, his life had just gotten worse. At first he had just figured he couldn't cut it as leader the way Leo did, but then, after a while, he noticed that while he had been feeling sorry for himself, the others had managed just fine. His brothers didn't need him to lead them; they did well on their own.

Which brought him to a conclusion.

The one who had needed a leader was him.

The one who had been in need of someone to follow was him, Raphael. He was the one who strayed, the one who got into trouble, the one who went out of line. He was the one who needed Leonardo.

The moment he realized this he naturally denied it all together. He? Need Leo? You can't be serious! That was ridiculous. No way.

The mixture of knowing the truth and denying it blended into the feelings of betrayal and loneliness, and Raphael let it boil under the skin, developing into hate and resentment. He could barely stand the sight of the house or his family. Everything familiar to him started to make him angry. Everything he cared about made him feel out of place. He let this go on for two weeks before he snapped out of it.

It was when he bumped into Don at school and received the news about Sidney's little fit that some of his primal familial-instincts kicked in. The additional talk with his brother's girl woke him up a bit more. Maybe he couldn't be Leo, but he was still a big brother, and HE was not about to abandon his siblings like Leo had!

Still, it was all Leo's fault that he was down. It was not just that he missed him, or that he was shocked that Leo had actually LEFT them, but something else, something he was not prepared to face.

It was Coral.

It had been such incredible timing! He was wondering if there actually was a God up there like Sidney tried to convince him of. If there was, that God must find it highly amusing to mess up his life.

Standing next to Coral's hospital bed, seeing her drugged up and wrapped in bandages, he just had to ask her.

"What the hell where ya thinking ya moron? Why'd ya have to get yerself all mangled up for? What good did it do ya?"

She looked at him (tried to, key note/ focusing with a spoonful of painkillers in your system is hard) and bit her lip. Then she looked away and sobbed.

"'Cause she took Leo away… It hurt… She made him leave… Couldn't forgive her… Hurt…"

What surprised him the most, though, was the voice in his head that suddenly screamed;

"WHY LEO? WHY HIM? I'M RIGHT HERE, DAMNIT! WHY NOT ME?"

It shocked him speechless. The fact that he was jealous because she had gotten herself beat up for LEO was something he hadn't expected. 'Cause, if he was jealous of Leo, that meant Leo had something he wanted.

For the second time that week he sat at night beside a hospital bed, realizing how easy it was to lose a person you hold dear. Mikey had made it, he was still with him and he was getting better. But, somehow, he felt like he had lost this one. He hadn't seen her in time and now he had lost her. Coral was stubborn. She was the type to wear her favorite shoes until they where only laces and soles. He sighed.

With Karai out of the picture in a very permanent way, would she go for him? Would she move in on Leo when he got back?

The thought made him furious. He left before he ended up breaking anything.

When he calmed down, he started thinking again. He was still forbidden from hitting things if he ever wanted to use his hands properly again, so he ended up in the old warehouse where he, Donnie, Casey, and Coral had build up their bikes. So far there were five of them, all functional, albeit a bit makeshift, and fast as lightning. He longingly pushed the sand sack in the corner back and forth, sorting out his thoughts.

He missed Leo. That one bit down on his pride hard, but it was true.

He needed help. Like a punch to the gut, but true. Anger management class, here I come.

He couldn't be the leader Leo was. Who wants to be as stiff as him, anyway? Raphael would do it his own way, like he did with everything else.

He needed a system, a structure, a purpose. If he kept going like he used to, he would end up killing Hun with all this built up rage. He might not like the big oaf, but damn, Hun wasn't worth becoming a murderer for.

He liked Coral. More then a friend. He liked her.

He stopped the bag.

Coral liked his brother.

He tackled the bag so hard it fell off its chain.

It was early now. About six in the morning. It would take him half an hour to get there, but he could sleep in peace there. Maybe even voice some of these thoughts out loud.

"Maybe I should just give you the key. Then I could sleep at night."

"Sorry Mrs. M…"

"Oh, don't say that, I'm just joking. Still, I would feel better knowing that you could get in even when I'm in deep sleep and can't hear you knock."

Raph smiled slightly as he followed the blind woman into the apartment. He didn't bother turning on the lights, Splinter's training running deep in him. He didn't need the lights any more then Mrs. M did. Coming into the kitchen, he picked up the creature that had jumped on his legs. He would never admit it to anyone outside this apartment, but he loved cats. He liked how they where so independent and yet so cuddly. If Raph could be any animal, he would be a cat.

God help him if Mikey ever found that out. He would never hear the end of it!

"I'll make some tea and you can tell me all about what's bothering you this time."

He sat down on the chair, placed the grey fur ball in his lap, and spilled everything, like he always did in the old woman's kitchen.

"Ya see Mrs. M, things didn't work out too well between my brother and his girlfriend…"

He thought about that conversation six months later as he watched Casey tease Coral by holding her bandana high over his head and laughing as the short girl cursed worse and worse for every jump. Her right arm was high in the air, but she didn't show any signs of pain. Eventually though, she tired and whammed her fist in his gut.

Raphael laughed as she tied it around her forehead again and sat down by the sixth bike, waving a wrench at him.

"Stop laughing or I'll come over there and rip you a new one! You sure as hell didn't help me!"

"It was just a joke, toots! No need to be so mad just cause you're short!"

"Stuff it, Case, or I'll hit you again!"

It just made the boys laugh even more and eventually she just sighed and turned up the volume on the stereo.

"If you really love her, you should tell her."

"I can't. I can't beat Leo when it comes to being the perfect boyfriend. Besides, she ain't that fickle. I'd have a bigger chance moving a mountain then changing her mind."

"Then I don't know what to do, but know that if you never tell her, she will never know. First of all, you should figure out if you are okay with that. Then decide what to tell her and what to be quiet about."

He sighed, just as deeply as he had back then. He had spilled his guts entirely around noon that day, and when he had left Mrs. M had placed her spare key in his hand. He had hugged her. In some part of his heart, he almost thought of her as a mother. She was probably the only one he could tell all those stupid little things to. Splinter was better at handling the bigger questions, like what to do in life and stuff.

"God damn it! Give me that hammer! I'm taking it apart!"

Back to reality just in time to save the bike from being demolished by the raging girl of his dreams.

"You should go home, you know! It's winter now, and they worry about where you are when you don't sleep in your own bed."

"You don't!"

Coral glared at him and unlocked the backdoor into the restaurant. It was already November and there was frost in the air. She hoped her parents had left the heat on in the apartment before they took of to that competition in Chicago.

"Of course I don't! I know you are too thickheaded to die from something so pathetic as a cold!"

"I'll just stay out here. The weather is warmer than you right now…"

Another glare and then she disappeared into the darkness inside. He followed and made sure to stomp the dirt from his boots before closing the door behind them. Coral was already busy turning on the stove and dragging food out of the fridge. He threw his jacket over one of the high chairs by the counter and sat down to watch.

The way she prepared both herself and the ingredients made him think of a samurai preparing for battle. She rolled up her sleeves, washed her hands, tied up her hair and pulled on the apron in that efficient manner that came from growing up in a kitchen. Then, it was the way she handled the cutting. He had once asked her why she bothered with her bat when she could dissect a fish in thirty seconds flat. Her only answer was a shrug and that she couldn't imagine dirtying a knife with something like thug blood.

Now he watched as the onion was reduced to tiny pieces and the peppers into thin slices, followed swiftly by the chicken.

Watching her work was something that was easy to enjoy. It was the same as watching Leo when he was going through his kata, or Donnie when he was just screwing together the last piece of his newest project. Splinter called it Zen. The place that people belonged in, where they didn't need to think, they could just be. He wondered if he ever had a look like that on his face. Like he was content. Probably not.

She fired everything in the same wok-pan, flipping it around like it was an extension of her arm. It started to smell amazing. Coral made the best curry in the world.

"Would you get me a carton of coconut milk?"

"Hm? Yeah, sure.."

Finding things in the Tetsu kitchen was a piece of cake. Coral's mom was a neat-freak, even more-so than Don. Everything was organized and alphabetized. Coconut-milk was on the second shelf, on the right. He took the carton that was already opened and placed it on the counter beside the aspiring chef. He leaned against the counter in the middle of the gigantic kitchen.

She didn't bother to measure it, just pouring it in almost haphazardly. She knew how spicy her friend liked it. What she didn't know was how intently he was looking at her back while she worked.

"Still no word from Leo?"

"Eh? No… Nothing…."

"Wonder how hard that grandfather of yours is drilling him! Must be hard if he doesn't even have time to write!"

"Yeah…"

"Still, it's almost Christmas. Bet you'll get at least a card by then."

"Mh…"

She looked at him over her shoulder. Raph hadn't mentioned Leo's name for months, at least not so that she had heard it. It was so like him not to talk about stuff like that. To him, it was easier just to avoid it all together. It hurt less. However, this was Leo, his brother. He couldn't just ignore his existance.

"I miss him too, you know."

She turned the stove off. The food was almost done, and now it just needed to simmer a bit on the after-heat and then it was do…

Her thoughts where brutally interrupted as two strong arms caught her around the waist and pulled her back with a force that made her lose her breath.

"Hey! Raph what's….?"

"Just stop talking about Leo, damn it!"

The desperation in his voice made her stop talking all together. The arms crushing her ribs were another factor.

"Just… Stop talking about him for once… I can't stand it!"

"Raph, he's your brother! You have to…!"

"I know he's my brother! That's what's pissin' me off so damn much! Why him, damn it? You belong with me!"

Her heart practically stopped. She could feel his hands tremble against her ribs, his breath, short and shallow, against her shoulder.

"What…?"

"What would you do with a guy like him? Ain't I enough?"

She sighed and leaned against his body, realizing what had his undies in a bunch.

"Why does everyone keep thinking I'm in love with Leo…?"

"Eh?"

She pulled herself free of his arms, but stayed near him as she turned to face him, locking her eyes with his.

"I know I belong with you, knucklehead. Who else would stand going out with a dumbass like you?"

He stared at her, trying to take in what she was saying. Then he smiled and put his arms back around her waist, pulling her in.

"That might be the sweetest thing you've ever said to me, babe."

"Yeah, let's tell the grandkids that so they know where their odd genes comes from."

He laughed and leaned down his head a little bit, brushing his nose against hers. She grabbed him by the cheeks and pressed her lips against his. Not about to give up a battle of domination, he pushed her back against the front counter so that the kitchen utilities rattled as the kiss deepened.

He grabbed the hair on the back of her neck to get better access to her, and as a response he felt her leg rising up to wrap around his. On a reflex he grabbed it and pulled her higher up before tracing down the seam on her jeans and grab himself a handful. The second he did he almost cursed. You're making out with a girl you actually want to spend time with afterwards, not just some random hot chick at some party! Remove that hand right now!

Before he could think the thought to completion though, two hands grabbed his own butt, kinda hard, too. He broke the kiss from pure shock.

"You can't grab my ass, woman!"

She gave him a "Oh yeah, then what did I just do huh" look and squeezed a bit tighter.

"You grab mine, I'll grab yours!"

He sighed and rested his forehead against hers, eyes closed, a smile tugging at his lips.

"God damn girl, you're worse then most guys, ya know!"

She snickered and drew her hands up the small of his back, nails making fine red lines on his skin. He shuddered and grabbed her chin.

"Damn it, I'm trying to show you respect!"

She gave him a smug smile and slid up on the counter, pulling her hair loose from it's hold.

"Why? I don't intend to show you any!"

He gave up. If she was fine with him groping her, why shouldn't he? He wrapped her in his arms again as she crossed her legs behind his back, hands digging into his hair. Part of him could not believe this. It was just too much. Since this summer he had thought that he didn't stand a chance, and look at them now. Maybe he should do as he was told more often. 'Specially if the rewards were this good. Speaking of being told to do stuff…

"I honestly thought you liked him… The way you talked about him… In the hospital… Freaked me out…!"

Kissing and talking at the same time made for some muffled words, but she got the point.

"What?"

Or not.

"Talking about missing him… Not forgiving Karai for taking him away…!"

Her right shoulder still twitched at the sound of that name. Raph doubted that Coral even knew that.

"From you…! She took him away from you..!"

She kissed him hard and let go of his face. Looking into his dark eyes she smiled sadly.

"I was mad because she took him away from you. Did you see your face in the mirror the day he left? I saw it, and it broke my heart."

A feeling of relief spread through his body like fire, thawing and burning away most of the hate and resentment Leo's departure had left behind. He hugged her close and whispered against her lips.

"I was so afraid I'd lost you to him… He always got everything I wanted… I thought he got you too…!"

She grabbed his cheeks again, less understanding and more frustration in her eyes this time.

"There is something seriously wrong with you, ya know!"

"Eh? What?"

"You're in an empty house, making out with a girl on the kitchen counter, and you're thinking about your BROTHER!"

He stared blankly at her for a few seconds, then he shook his head.

"You're right! what the hell am I doing?"

Before she had a chance to reply, though, he locked lips with her again, fingers brushing against the fabric that hid her skin from their touch.

She rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck. Second place was alright, especially since she lost to the best of the best. Still, she could hardly complain about the prize, could she now?

[A/N: And since I was such a good girl and posted two chapters in two days...I think you should review extra much! X3]


	12. Homecoming

[A/N: Bold is in Japanese, just so you know! X3]

Homecoming

Some things you can take for granted. Like the tide or the coming of spring.

Raph throwing a punch the first thing he did when he saw Leo's face is another thing.

Leo could have stopped it, but he let his hand stay on his dufflebag. He knew his brother would be angry. Better to just let him vent. The next thing that happened was that Mikey squeezed himself out and grabbed Leo by the shoulders, trying to figure out if he still had all his teeth intact. When Leo smiled at him, the youngest brother threw his arms around the oldest, squishing the air from his lungs.

Raphael growled and stomped his way up the stairs, but not before Leo could greet him back.

"I missed you too, bro!"

The only reply was the slam of a door. Leo sighed and smiled, turning his eyes to Donnie as the last of his brothers came out to the door. After the two of them had hugged him to the point of breaking him in two, they let him in to greet his father.

Splinter was pleased with what he saw. The eyes of his oldest where bright and clear, his smile gentle and sincere. The last bit of worry he had had for his decision disappeared. The trip had done his son good. He was healed.

"I should go talk to him…"

Leo nodded towards the stairs and Splinter nodded back, but Leo didn't follow his brother at once. First, he went into the bathroom to get something, and, equipment in hand, he ventured up the stairs to face the wrath of the almighty Raphael. Before knocking he could hear Mikey placing bets for a fight. He smiled and knocked.

"GO TO HELL!"

Smiling bigger he turned the doorknob and entered.

"Are you deaf, damn it, or did grandpa beat you stupid?"

"Neither. I just want to talk to you."

"I don't want to hear it! And what the hell is that?"

Leo closed the door and looked down at the towel and scissors in his hand.

"Your hair looks like a three year old cut it in the dark with a blunt knife. Sit down. I'll fix it."

"Shut the hell up! Just get out of here damn it!"

Raph lashed out at him, but this time his hand was caught by Leonardo's and suddenly the longhaired boy found himself on his knees with his back to Leo and his arm twisted up on his back.

"What the…?"

"Are you going to be still and let me talk now?"

Raphael grunted and pushed his body up against Leo's, banging him into the door and getting his arm free. The air left Leo's lungs for the second time in five minutes. Raph stepped back in the messy room, stopping by the window frame and glaring at his returned brother.

"You got some nerve, oh fearless leader, to just abandon us like that! Do you have any idea what kind of shit you caused, huh?"

"I got Donnie's letters…"

"But you didn't have the courtesy to ANSWER a single one of them, did ya?"

Leo looked down, took a deep breath, and met his brother's eyes again.

"Sit down. I'll tell you what happened."

"I DON'T CARE! I HATE YOU! YOU JUST TOOK OFF AS THINGS GOT HARD, YOU JUST LEFT US! YOU THINK I'LL FORGIVE YA? QUIT DREAMING!"

"I'm not asking for your forgiveness Raph! I just want you to listen to me! It was hard for me, too, but I couldn't stay here! It hurt too much!"

He could see the vein on Raph's forehead pop. He growled and marched over, slamming his fist into the door by Leo's head.

"'Even if I am hurt, you guys will be there to catch me right? You'll have my back, won't you?'"

Leo looked at him questioningly for a second before he remembered the day he had said those words. That day when he had received Raphael's blessing. That day when his brother had promised to back him up, should he fall. He looked down.

"Couldn't even trust us with that could ya? We would have done anything to help you, but that wasn't good enough for ya! God damn it, Leo! We're a team! Ain't that what you kept telling us? That we should stick together? And what do you do? You LEAVE the first chance you get!"

Leo let his head fall forward, leaning against his surprised brother's shoulder. Look at that, Raph had grown. He was taller then Leo now. Not much, but still.

"I'm sorry. I should have trusted you. I won't ask for your forgiveness, but please, Raph, I want to talk to you. I missed you…"

Raphael wanted to scream. He was still mad and he wanted to beat someone up. But Leo was like tall grass in the wind. He wouldn't fight back, and Raph could feel himself calming down every passing second. He had missed his brother. He WAS happy to have him home. Somewhere during these past months, Raph had already forgiven his brother, even if he didn't know it himself.

Leo could hear his brother gulp. A big hand dug itself into his hair and an arm was wrapped around his neck.

"Damn it, Leo… Don't leave us like that again. We…!"

Raphael bit his lip. Admitting it to himself had been hard enough. Saying it out loud was almost to much. Almost.

"I need you."

"Eh?"

"You heard me. Don't make me repeat it."

Leo could feel Raph's blush against his own cheek as he hugged him back. Seemed like he had grown in more ways then one.

Finally, Raph pushed him off and turned away, muttering about stupid brothers and sentimental crap. Leo sat down on the bed and waved for him to come closer. With a last heavy sigh Raph grabbed a comb from the mess on his desk and sat down on the floor with his back against Leonardo's legs.

"You're taking this a lot better then I thought you would."

"Oh really…?"

"Yeah, I thought you'd hit me a whole lot more before you calmed down."

The towel was placed over Raphael's shoulders and he held up the comb to his brother.

"Guess I'm not as angry at you as I was a year ago."

He could feel the soft tugs as his brother started straightening out his dark hair. Leo had cut his brothers' hair since first grade. He had gotten quite good at it.

"I was gone for a long time, huh…?"

"Yeah, too long!"

"Sorry…"

Raph sighed again and turned his head slightly so Leo could gather all the hair together. If felt weird, suddenly having him back, but he was not as angry anymore. The house didn't seem so strange anymore, either. Maybe he should return Mrs. M's key.

"You've gotten stronger. Not much better but stronger."

Not even that high-and-mighty tone could piss him off.

"I've got a girlfriend who does one-armed push-ups. Can't really fall behind can I?"

Leo laughed and tossed the comb back onto the desk.

"Guess not! Glad you finally worked that out."

"You knew?"

"Of course I knew. I knew before either of you did."

Raph cursed under his breath as Leo picked up the scissors. Then he tilted his head backwards so he could look his brother in the eye.

"And you? How are you dealing with your girl-problems?"

Leo met the hard gaze of his brother. Then he looked down and smiled a bit.

"I'll be fine."

Raphael sat up again. If Leo would have lied he would have been mad, but he had said "will be" not "am", so he relaxed. Leo was still hurt, but he would be fine with them now. He was home.

"So… How was Japan?"

"Anything in particular you want to know?"

"Any hot chicks?"

"RAPH!"

"She's ok with it! I let her watch Johnny Depp movies!"

"Good grief…"

"Just start talking, Charlie Brown!"

The first weeks had been hell. Summers in Japan were so hot, it knocked the wind right out of him. He had no idea how Usagi made it through both going to school and then kendo afterward. Must be habit.

Leo himself didn't move much unless he was asked to. The Ancient One was on his back way too often and that, in addition to the intense heat, made Leo snap at every little thing.

Strangely enough, Usagi never yelled back. He just stood there, arms loosely crossed over his chest, and waited for the warm air to abandon the American's lungs. When Leo finally stopped, panting and even sweatier than before, Usagi would smile and ask if he wanted to come over for some watermelon, cold drinks, or anything at all.

The word Leo defined Usagi with was patient. Even when angry, all he would do was growl and glare. He never raised his voice in an argument. He was truly a samurai.

Suppose he had gotten a LOT of practice before Leonardo came though. The main reason for Usagi's few and well controlled fits was Gennosuke. The big guy was not only a pick-pocket, but he was also a gang-member and a notorious gambler. Finally, Leo had to ask Usagi why he bothered.

"He's my friend. Do I need more reason?"

Leo's Japanese was still a bit rusty, so most conversations where still in English.

"I'm sorry. I just don't see how the two of you get along…"

Usagi smiled and looked over at Gen, who was busy ordering a big pile of snacks from the poor convenience-store clerk.

"He might not look it, but he is a good and loyal friend. It's true, the first time we met he got me into a lot of trouble I could have lived without, but he was given the chance to abandon me the thought never crossed his mind. Deep down inside…"

He looked as the big boy stuffed his face with a bag of chips on his way over.

"…DEEP down inside, he is a good person. Just like you, Leonardo-san."

Leo looked up at him. He had not been acting like a good person these past few weeks. He was surprised Usagi had put up with him for this long.

"Even though you scream and curse and lash out every chance you get, I know that you are a good person and an amazing friend."

"How do you know that…?"

Usagi smiled and made room for Gen to sit down on the bench beside them.

"Because when you stop screaming and fighting, you look so sad. You are not a violent person by nature; you are hurt."

Leo didn't know what to say, so he pulled up his knees and leaned his forehead against them.

**"What's up with the foreigner?"** Gen asked rudely, his mouth full of junk food.

**"I don't know, but I think he's getting better. Are you planning on sharing those?"**

**"You could have said something sooner, I would have bought for you, too."**

**"Restraint is an alien word for you, isn't it my friend?"**

**"He he! Ya know it, ponytail!"**

Yes, very deep down. But it was there, and that's all that matterd to Usagi right now.

One day, Leonardo couldn't take it anymore. The whole day his grandfather had been on him about everything he did wrong. His kata was sloppy, the rice was undercooked, he didn't clean the tatami fast OR well enough, he was late and he was lazy, and the Ancient One knew just whose fault all this was.

"How did Splinter-san raise you?"

"JUST SHUT UP!"

He threw the book he had been sent to fetch right out the paper sliding-door, leaving a big hole. Right then, he didn't care.

"Just stop talking about him like that! You have no idea! You have no idea what he's been through! You have no idea how hard he worked to raise us, to help us grow up to be good people! You have no idea how hard he had had to work to keep us fed and clothed and happy! You have no idea how much we love him, or how much we owe him! So just stop! I don't want to hear it! Why do you keep picking on him?"

The Ancient One smiled, not that cooky grin that reminded him of Raph in a bad mood, but that soft sweet one, just like Splinter's.

"Because I so enjoy the way you defend him so valiantly. Makes me happy that I let him take you. Splinter made a good father, just like my son hoped."

That sucked all the anger out of Leo's chest. The raging flame in him was snuffed out. All the power in his legs disappeared and he sank down, first to his knees before he collapsed altogether on his back, arms over his face. He was tired. Tired of being angry, tired of being sad. He missed his home and his family and the only thing that had kept him going was spite for the old man in front of him. Now, he couldn't be mad at him anymore, not after those words. It was too hot. Even the tears running down his temples were warm.

He heard the rustle of cloth and a soft thud as his grandfather sat down beside him. He didn't look up, and the Ancient One didn't move. For a long time, they just stayed like that, until the air seemed to clear up and the chill of night started to creep in through the hole in the door.

"Leonardo? Would you like to go see your parents graves?"

He wiped his face with his t-shirt and sat up, nodding.

"Yeah. That would be nice."

It was an old graveyard with tall shinto gravestones. The most modest ones were the ones up on a small hill in the shade of a crooked plum-tree. It had already bloomed, and the ground was covered with small yellow petals that were fading to brown in the grass.

Leo sat down and wiped some of them off the stones. He recognized the kanji for his parents' names, the smooth lines looking odd on the hard stone. He sighed and crossed his legs, leaning his elbows on his thighs. His grandfather had left him at the torii, the big red gate, pointing out the place he was looking for. Leo hadn't asked him to join. They both knew some things are easier to do alone.

He took a deep breath. He was not about to sit in a graveyard in the middle of the night, talking to inanimate objects, but he could see why some would find it reassuring. Graveyards are, after all, not made for the dead, but for the ones still alive. A place to connect with and remember the people already lost.

Only, he didn't remember his biological parents. He had been too small, too young. All he knew were their faces. He didn't recall the sound of their voices or the touch of their hands. The only insight he had to them was what Splinter and Usagi's family had told him.

Still, they were the people to whom he owed his very existence, and he would pay them respect.

So, he placed his hands on his knees and sat up straight. Leo was not the praying type, so he did the next best thing. It had been a long time since he had meditated properly.

The focus he had been lacking over the past weeks was back, and with it came clarity. He had made a mistake, and he needed to get over that.

It proved harder then he had thought. There was still anger and disappointment in him, he was still the same person he had been the last month, only more tired. He was still angry and he was still to blame.

_Blame? For what?_

_For what happened! I should have realized she was lying!_

_And how could you have known? Are you a mind reader?_

_No, but even then, I shouldn't have let them get hurt! I should have protected them!_

_Are they not as strong as you? Do they need you to protect them all the time? You were hurt as well, does that mean that THEY failed to protect YOU?_

_No! Of course not! I'm the eldest! I'm supposed to protect THEM!_

_You are the oldest by two minutes, it does not count for that much._

_I'm still the oldest._

_You are as stubborn as your mother, did you know that?_

"No… I didn't know that."

He could feel the presence behind him, strong and tranquil, like an old tree.

_You are. It's a trait you shouldn't use against yourself. It does you no good_.

Leo fisted his hands. He had no tears left but it felt like they were coming back.

_Who are you mad at?_

"Myself. I'm angry at myself."

_Why?_

"Because… I failed them. I failed them but they don't even blame me!"

_And why don't they blame you?_

"Because… They don't think it's my fault…"

_Then who is blaming you?_

He sighed and looked up at the starry sky. There was no moon tonight, and it was dark. But the stars were bright. The light stung his eyes.

"I'm blaming myself."

_Could you have stopped it? Could you have done anything? Can you even change what has happened?_

"No…"

_Then, you need to forgive yourself. If you don't, your anger and self-hatred will grow until it consumes you. Then you will become just like the man who caused all this. Is that what you want?_

"No…! That's not what I want!"

_Then forgive yourself. It was not your fault, and nobody thinks it is. Do you understand?_

"Hai… I understand."

_Good. Now calm down. You have raged enough. It is time to breathe again._

Leo opened his eyes only to find himself lying down in the grass, the morning sun starting to peek over the horizon. He sat up and tried to make sense of where he was and what had happened. He didn't believe in ghosts, but even though he was covered in morning dew, he wasn't cold at all. It felt like he was still asleep.

"LEONARDO-SAN!"

Hearing the familiar voice he stood up (a bit unsteadily) and waved. Usagi found him instantly and came up the hill, dressed in his school-uniform with his shinai over his shoulder.

"Have you been here all night? Your grandfather is worried."

**"Hai… I had a lot to think about."**

Usagi raised an eyebrow when Leo actually began speaking Japanese (actually a bit better than he had managed yesterday,) but then he smiled again. For someone who had spent the night outside in a graveyard, he looked a lot better.

**"Are you feeling better? You look calmer."**

**"Yes, a lot better. Thank you, Usagi."**

They both knew he was thanking him for a lot more then a polite question, but since they both knew, there was little need to point it out. Instead, Leo followed Usagi to the train and promised to meet him again when he got back. Then, he went home to change. He still had to fix that hole in the door.

He didn't tell his grandfather about the dream (if it had been a dream. All his logic said so but there where some things that just didn't fit into that explanation), but he didn't really have to. The old man had taken him there for a purpose and that purpose had been fulfilled. The Ancient One didn't care much how it was done. That was Leonardo's business.

He did tell Usagi while sitting on the wall between the houses and leaning against his back. He told him everything. Starting with Splinter's story, moving on to his own childhood, then about the first time he saw Karai, and how he couldn't stop looking at her. Then he told him about the day outside the detention-room, the two weeks that followed, and how they ended.

Usagi didn't say much, he only asked short questions here and there about certain details and to help with some more complicated words. When Leo was done, they sat in silence, looking up at the bright sky.

**"Hey, Usagi?"**

**"Hm? Nani?"**

**"Do you have someone you like?"**

His friend sighed and sank down a bit, placing his feet on the thick wall.

**"Yeah, I do."**

**"Who is she?"**

**"Doesn't matter. She's dating my cousin."**

**"Oh…"**

Leo couldn't really find anything to say. He could ask more, of course, but somehow he didn't feel like forcing it out. Usagi had waited for him; he could wait for Usagi.

**"Want to spar a bit before dinner?"**

**"Only if you stick to one shinai! I can't keep up when you use two…!"**

Raph actually handled himself quite well these days. He didn't even growl when Leo hugged Coral for over five minutes. The two of them didn't even say hello. They merely closed the space in between them and didn't move for a long time. It was the first time they actually met since that night almost a year ago. They didn't need words right now, they needed to know that the other was alright. They were the ones who had been hurt the deepest Finally, they broke apart, contented.

"How's your arm?"

"How's your back?"

A smile and that was all.

"You got a haircut, babe! Did Leo do it for you?"

"You still remember me? I thought you forgot I was here…"

"Oh please...!"

Coral just sat down in his lap so that poor Raph almost disappeared in the couch.

"It would take years of therapy to forget you and I don't have that kind of money."

Two arms wrapped themselves around her with a bitter (and muffled) "I love you too".

As proud as he was over the fact that his brother could utter such words with such ease, (and in his presence, too!) Leo didn't say anything. He only turned the sound back up on the television and grabbed himself a carton of food from the bag the girl had brought. It was back to the same old Saturdays, and he was to happy to make fun of Raph again.

Finally, life was getting back to normal in the Hamato house.

[A/N: Next chapter will be up in a minute, and if you praice me enough, I might be abled to keep up this weekly update-thing!]


	13. The Crimson Soul

The Crimson Soul

Red was Karai's favorite color. Red was a good color. It was bold, yet subtle. It stood out, but blended in. Red could disappear into the shadows just as easily as black. Red was a good color.

Against white, however, red was too loud. It stung the eyes. Red and white was not good for a ninja. Red on white was bad.

She leaned her forehead against the white tiles on the wall, watching the swirls of red dance in the water before disappearing down the black hole into the drain. Her breath was short, and the humidity in the room sucked the last bits of oxygen right out of her lungs.

As she felt her legs give in, she gently placed her back against the wall and slid down. The friction stung at the open wounds but the cold, wet surface numbed her a fraction. She pulled up her legs and tried to take deep breaths.

She leaned her chin against her bare knees and watched the blood run through her toes. Fascinated, she watched with tired beryl eyes.

_I hate this._

She had to stop talking back. For every time she raised her voice she was punished. She had learned to bite her tongue now, but for the most part but some things just slipped out. She had never known how cruel or impatient her father really was. He would snap at the smallest thing and beat whoever was in his way until he grew tired. Karai tried her best not to be in his way, but things were different now.

She placed her forehead on her knees, letting the hot water run down her head and back. She would heal soon. These marks where shallow and few. She had received much worse in the year since she had learned her father's true ways. Even in blind rage her father was careful. All the marks would be hidden by her clothing. He knew the cut of her clothing, and he made sure never to endanger the image of his perfectly fine daughter. Look on the bright side, Karai, she thought. At least you have only been beaten twice this week.

She found herself wanting to call Coral.

Swiftly, she dismissed that thought. Even if she DID call, Coral would not talk to her. Or listen, for that matter.

It would be nice to go over, be greeted by her kind and warm parents, eat the spicy food, curl up in the big couch, and watch some ridiculous movie until the sun came up again. Suppose it's true, you don't know what you have until you have lost it it. Who would have thought that not having her friend call her almost every day, being forced to endure those silly excuses for entertainment, and being stuffed full of food with hardly any nutrients at all would be something Karai would miss?

The thought of the short, loud girl made tears burn under Karai's eyelids like so much chlorine. She had seen her not too long ago, and it had ripped open the scar in her soul. Karai had been out, on a mission for her father, and while perched on the edge on a rooftop she had spotted her. Coral had been in a hurry, a sports bag over her shoulder, and a steaming Thai-box in her hand. Karai saw her as she hurried through the crowd, holding the food high over her head so as not to spill it on anyone.

Coral was fine. She had healed and she was as good as ever. Karai had managed to save her. An iron ball of guilt had fallen from her heart. Her friend was safe.

On her way back, she had strayed a bit to have a look at the little red house with the big backyard. The lights were on downstairs and she could hear the TV from the living room. She knew Leonardo wasn't there, but knowing his family was well was good enough. He would return to them. She hoped it would be soon.

Shaking her head so that crystalline droplets flew around her, Karai tried to pull her thoughts away from Leonardo. It hurt so much, and she was in enough pain as it was.

Finally a bit stronger, she stood and turned the water off. She wrapped herself in her thick bathrobe and walked out into her room. She pulled the curtains apart and opened the window to let the warm spring air in. The sun had set, but the sky was still a collage of colors. She sat down on her bed and looked out over New York.

It had been eleven months, two weeks and six days since she had stabbed Leonardo and received her new place by her father's side. It had been eleven months, three weeks and four days since she had broken off with her best friend and condemned herself to a life as a ninja. She had killed her soul and strangled her heart. She was a tool, used at her masters will, and tools do not feel despair.

"I suppose, then, that I am not a real ninja yet…"

Sighing, she pulled in her legs and curled up on the thick bedcover. Her damp hair stuck to her face and she lazily brushed it away from her cheek. Her body screamed in agony at the movement but she ignored it dutifully. She was used to that now. Suddenly, she remembered that time she had been sparring with Leonardo, the time he had kissed her and pushed her down. Suddenly, she wished that she hadn't stopped him! It wouldn't have made much difference, but, as it was now, she was looking at dying a virgin. She could actually feel herself dying, growing thinner and more wasted by the very hour. Her body and mind couldn't take many more beatings, but she had ceased caring long ago. Well, it was no use. Even if she hadn't stopped him he wouldn't have done it. He was too honorable to complete such an act. Still, it would have made a nice memory.

She wished that she had more memories of him. Right now she only had those two weeks and the times before that, when she would watch him and his little circle of friends and family from afar. She wondered if he knew that he had passed her in the hallway almost every day before first period. She would see him sometimes, hurrying off with his gaze set straight forward, never noticing that she was keeping an eye out for him.

Sighing again, she rolled over on her back and undid her robe. Leaving it on the bed as she got up, Karai walked in behind her red screen with the huge black dragon painted on it. Well hidden by the thin paper, she started to wrap her torso in soft, white bandages and pull on her uniform. Wincing at each pass, she thought about going back to bed and forgetting about her duties. She discarded the thought as she remembered the consequences would outweigh a good night's sleep tenfold. No, tonight she had work to do. A shipment was coming in at midnight and her father did not trust that the other party would hold up their end of the bargain without a bit of persuasion. He would have sent Hun, but the big fool had gotten himself beat up by some vigilante on a motorbike.

Karai didn't even bother trying to feel sorry for her ex. Lately he had become even more annoying, treating her with less and less respect. A few weeks in the hospital would perhaps do him good. If nothing else, his ego would have some mending to do.

She stopped in front of the mirror, her sash only half done. The boldest of the marks on her body peeked up over the rim of her clothing. She released the red cloth hanging around her waist and pulled down her collar a bit, grimacing as the fabric caught briefly on the tender skin. The mark stood out against her pale skin, red on white in the dark room.

Nobody would want her now, she convinced herself, not as scarred and torn as she was. She was a warrior now, not a woman.

She had received this scar the day she had protested against killing a man who had messed up a delivery. He was only a couple of years older then her, probably with a worried family at home. She had refused to take part in it, and for that she had been punished.

First she had been roughed up, beaten cruelly before being tied down. Her father had taken a piece of iron from a burning brazier, swinging it nonchalantly back and forth. He had leaned down and whispered ever so softly to her. She had learned to brace herself when he did that. The pain he would cause after soft words was usually the worst.

"Karai, my dear Karai. Do you still not understand?" he whispered her, patting her blanched face gently. "You have no will anymore. You are mine. You are shinobi, a ninja. A ninja's purpose is to serve her master. To obey without thought. When I say kill, you kill. When I say die, you end your life. Do you understand, my child?"

She was shaking, but she had not yet learned, not yet understood. So she spoke.

"My heart will not let me kill innocents… It is not honorable!"

He grabbed her throat and squeezed as he hissed at her.

"I am your honor, and you will obey me! Your heart is mine! I say what it allows you to do!"

He held up the still red hot iron so she could see the design on the end, forcing a piece of leather into her mouth to keep her from biting off her tongue.

"And this is to remind you of that…!"

She pulled her shirt closed and tightened her sash, hiding her father's mark. Hastily, she cleared memories of boiling skin and sadistic grins from her mind. It was time to go.

It was dawn when the transaction had been fully completed. The sky was so bright yellow and pink it almost faded to white. The sun had not shown itself yet, but it was coming. Karai was still out, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

The cargo had been unloaded and stored away, the other party had been paid before being removed from the scene when they had decided to try and get away with both the payment and the goods. They would be found by their comrades, as a warning. One does not mess with the foot.

She had dismissed her ninja-squad and now she tried her best to tire herself out before she had to return home, to sleep. If she was tired enough, she wouldn't have such vivid nightmares. She took a six feet jump over an alley and continued her run. Eventually, she reached a street that was too wide to jump. She sat herself down in the cover of a stone gargoyle and watched the sun rise over her home.

Her memories came back to haunt her. She remembered the time there had been a warm body and not a cold, stone figure beside her; a sunset instead of a dawning sun. She could still feel his arms wrapped around her body, even though it had been a whole year since he had let her go. That had been the first time she had cried in front of anyone. It had been embarrassing and yet comforting.

Suddenly, a bell rang close to her, then another. It was Sunday. The churches in the neighborhood called to the faithful. She had never believed in God, but she suddenly found herself sliding into his house through an open window conveniently placed by a tree. Karai had no idea what had possessed her to do this, but while she was there, she could might as well watch. She had never seen a Christian ceremony before.

She was on a balcony above the organ, a flock of God's lambs busying themselves with finding seats and making their children behave despite the early hour and stiff clothes. She placed herself in the shadow of a marble angel and looked out over the crowd.

So many people, all blind to the fact that praying and hoping brought nothing of value to this world. If you wanted something, you had to get your hands dirty. But, then again, looking at this particular crowd, they probably knew that.

The old building was run down, the benches not much better off than firewood. The people sitting on them where just as worn down as their place of worship. This was down-town. These people, she realized, were here to find the strength to live for another seven days despite the harsh reality outside the thick stone walls.

Then, the priest walked out in front of them, warm smiles and kind words flowing from him like water from a broken aquarium. The words he spoke were nothing but nonsense in Karai's ears, but looking at the people beneath her she had to admit he knew how to affect a group of lost souls. They clung to his every word, nodding and clapping whenever he paused. Perhaps she could learn some leadership-skills from this one. He was good with his words.

Before she could think much further, he backed down and a group of women of all ages, all dressed in long robes, took place in front of the altar. As the music started, Karai suddenly recognized the one stepping forward for the solo.

"Sidney…"

She had not seen the tanned girl for a long time, but she had not changed much. Now that she thought about it, she had been told that the other girl was in a choir. The little gold cross she always wore around her neck had answered all other questions.

Karai had to admit, Sidney was a good singer. Her voice was strong and she had no need for a mic, her voice carrying all the way through the place. She put a lot of feeling into it, too.

Karai watched the girl that she had know what seemed like a lifetime ago. The sound of her voice started to move something inside her. Too late, Karai realized that she was crying. Even when the rest of the choir sang full force, Sidney's voice stood out.

Her song promised a friend, a shoulder to lean on. She swore to aid, to never leave and always walk the same path. Even when her heart was filled with sorrow and despair. She would carry her.

Covered by the sound of echoing voices, Karai cried. She had not let herself do so for a long time. She had been afraid to cry in her home, under the same roof as her father. Neither could she let her feelings out when she was on missions. But here, hidden by a strong, familiar voice, she could not hold it in anymore.

When the ceremony was over, Karai stood again. She glanced down over the leaving crowd and found a laughing Sidney, waist encircled by an arm and cheek kissed by a dark-haired boy. The image stabbed at Karai's heart. She knew another boy, very similar to the one by Sidney's side, whose embrace was warm and safe, and whose kisses where gentle and kind.

She found the window again, sneaking out without a single soul ever knowing she had ever been there. Well away from that place, she promised herself never to do something so foolish again. She was a ninja now. She would leave her weak heart in that place, abandon her memories inside those cold stone walls. She would never wish herself back in time again. It did her no good.

When she had finished her report to her father, he looked at her strangely. Then he smiled a pleased smile and dismissed her. She bowed in respect, as graceful as bamboo in the wind, and left on silent feet.

Oroku Saki put down his brush and stroked his chin.

"Finally. Not a day too soon, either. The date is almost here. Finally my hard work will pay off."

He stood and looked out over the city he was about to claim as his own.

"Soon, my dear Karai, I will release you from my service. You are about to serve the greatest purpose a child can do for her father. Soon."

His smile would have turned Karai's blood to ice, had she seen it. The sun shone brightly in the small room, but at that moment, it almost seemed as its warmth diminished.

[A/N: Not as angsty as I planed it…But better then my last try! Did you miss my evil cliffhangers? Just reminding you, comments makes Tai type faster!]


	14. Her Faith

[A/N: How much do you guys love me? Told ya it would speed up now!]

Her Faith

It was so hard to believe it, but he wanted to. With all his heart, Leo wanted to believe. It would explain so much.

"Are you ready?"

He looked over at his brothers and his best friends. He was back in leader-position after almost an entire year. They were waiting for his word.

He took a deep breath and gripped the handle on one of the swords on his back, the thick leather in his dark jacket moving like a second layer of skin.

"Yeah. Let's go."

And to believe that just one hour ago they had been so deeply rooted into the couch that even Splinter hadn't believed them capable of more mischief and gone to bed.

Movie nights had been expanded to include both Sidney and Susie. The others had been a bit worried, but Leo didn't mind. He liked seeing them all together. He loved seeing his brothers happy.

The most surprising thing about that evening was that at midnight there popped up a movie in the bag that didn't include any action what so ever.

"It's a musical. I ain't watching no musical! You can't make me!"

"Oh get over yourself, it's a good movie!"

"Eh? You want to see it, Coral? You hate romantic movies!"

"It's a good movie!"

"Who picked Moulin Rouge anyway?"

Leo turned the DVD over in his hand and looked at the people in the dimly lit room. All the girls shrugged, Raph glared, and Donnie held up his hands to say "not me".

Then everyone turned to Mike.

"Well… It's a good movie….!"

They laughed and bombarded him with pillows. Raph was voted down and Leo started the film.

It was a fun movie, fun enough even to forget the dark beginning, and it made for a lot of debate amongst the teenagers.

"I still think it's stupid."

"Mike! If she didn't lie to him, the Duke would kill him! She's doing it because she loves him!"

"They should just run away!"

"Hush! I love this song!"

Leo watched the love story on the screen. Why couldn't they make movies about easy relationships?

Well, nobody would watch it. No drama.

Still, this was a tragic movie. Why couldn't musicals end on a happy note? Was it some rule? He watched them confront each other, the man almost mad with grief and hurt, the woman silent and suffering for all the things she couldn't tell him. He could relate. Being lied to by the one you love hurts more then anything.

"It's still stupid!"

"If she told him, he would be killed!"

The argument between Mikey and Coral raged on. It was simple enough. Mike would always wish for the happy ending, not the most likely.

"If it were me, I'd rather hurt him and let him live than have him killed!"

"How is that merciful? She'll be suffering her entire life!"

"Given the choice of watching the person you love die, and letting him live to find someone else, what would you pick? She's doing it to protec…!"

The abrupt halt made them all turn their heads to watch as the Asian girl's eyes grew wider and wider. Suddenly, she popped up out of the couch and stared at Leo where he lay on the floor. She looked like she had just made a small trip to Nirvana and come back with a piece of infinite wisdom. Perhaps she had.

"That's what she did…"

"Huh?"

"That's what she did, Leo! That's what Karai was doing! She was protecting us!"

It was the first time since her arm was broken that she mentioned that name, and suddenly hearing it was like a jab to Leo's gut.

"Ye're out of you're brains, sugar. Sit down and watch the stupid movie."

"No! It would explain it! Think about it, Leo! Karai was one of the most honorable people I've ever met! She would never lie like that for her own gain!"

The logic beckoned to him, but his wounded heart shook it off. There had been no mercy in her eyes.

"Leo… My best friend wouldn't hurt anyone who didn't deserve it, but if her father threatened you, us, what do you think she would do?"

He looked into her eyes. They were so full of hope. Yeah, it was her last lifeline. The tiny hope that her friend was still her friend. He marveled over how forgiving she could be. All the hurt Karai had brought her, and Coral was still willing to forgive her. He wondered what would have become of the beryl-eyed girl had she not known the Coral.

"Even if that was true, and I say IF, there would be no way to know. If Oroku Saki has her by the throat, he is not likely to just let us walk in and ASK!"

"It doesn't take much to open a door. I think we can handle it!"

"That's not the point!"

"It is so the point!"

"Both of you stop it!"

They looked at Sidney as she sat up in the big armchair and crossed her arms.

"The thing is, even if you can open a door, wouldn't there be guards and so on?"

Coral locked her eyes on her friend and cracked her knuckles.

"Yeah, 'cause I'm gonna let a couple of nine-to-fivers stand in the way! I knew that girl for three years. She's the best friend I've ever had and I was the ONLY friend she's ever had! If there is the slightest, one-in-a-million-chance that I can have her back, you think I'd care about some guards?"

She looked down at Leo on the carpet.

"What about you, Leo?"

He looked down. A one-in-a-million-chance. He thought of the hurt and the year that he had spent away just so he could heal, but the whole time he had been home he had felt that calm and strong presence like a tree in a raging storm. It came from inside him now, and he remembered the time he had learned to ride a bike. When you fall off, you have to get back on, or you will be afraid your whole life.

He remembered that day out on the porch, her cheek on his shoulder and his arm around her slim frame. A one-in-a-million-chance.

"Coral, give it up. She never liked any of us. She used us. Get over it."

"No Leo!"

She sat down beside him and grabbed his hand. He looked up at her, half a mind to tell her to stop crushing his knuckles, but he didn't have the time.

"I don't believe she could have faked it for that long!" Coral cried, anger creeping into her voice.

"It was two weeks!"

"It was two YEARS, dimwit!"

"…Eh?"

She sighed and gripped his hands tighter.

"She's looked at you for just as long as you looked at her. You both always threatened me with the same thing if I ever told anything. I don't believe that she staged that. I don't think it's possible."

The others were dead quiet. The tense atmosphere in the room didn't allow any interference, but the movie was still on and it had perfect timing.

"The greatest thing you ever learn is just to love and be loved in return!"

Leo looked at it. He had forgotten all about the movie and its little story, but even though he wasn't sentimental or easily affected, he still had that strange feeling from his night at the graveyard. Maybe Splinter wasn't the only thing guiding him down the right path in his life. Maybe he had backup. Maybe, just maybe, it's worth it to take chances, even if it's one-in-a-million. He stood up.

"Raph…?"

His brother looked at him from his position deep down between the pillows.

"Yeah…?"

Leo took a deep breath and prayed he did the right thing. But, then again, what's a love story without drama?

"Coral and I are heading downtown. Feel like helping us out with a little something?"

His friend beamed at him and jumped up. Raph just sighed, knowing far too well that the only reason Leo asked was to point out that he would not run off on his own again. He stood alongside Leo.

"Sure, bro. Lemm'e just get my gear."

He held out his fisted hand and Leo placed him palm over it, smiling in gratitude.

"Let's go! It can't be as bad as last time!"

Mikey almost fell off the couch when he stretched out to place his hand on his brothers'.

"Splinter's going to kill us…"

Despite the ominous words, Don was smiling.

"It's a road trip downtown, then!"

Sidney and Susie looked at each other over the popcorn bowl.

"Guess we'll hold down the fort, then. The two of us would be completely useless if we came with them."

"Yeah! And I want to watch Paranormal!"

Leo smiled as the girls brushed off his brothers reassurances that they would be back soon. Suppose that's what all people in the world are looking for; a certain someone who will understand them. Even if they can't understand the things they do, they can just settle for knowing it was important. He was happy that his brothers had found people like that.

He had found someone like that. It was worth the risk if he could have her back.

That was the simple reason that he was in the truck, a block down from the glass doors that marked the entrance to The Foot's headquarters: New York branch.

Coral grinned a cruel grin and turned to Donnie from the front seat.

"You heard the man! Let's go!"

"Splinter's gonna kill us!"

Still, despite the dark future he predicted, he put the pedal to the metal and aimed for the fragile (he hoped) glass.

"Miss Karai!"

She almost placed a shuriken between the man's eyes. She had actually managed to place her hand on her bedroom door's handle when he popped up. She took a deep breath and turned. Hopefully, it was a small matter and she could be in bed in thirty seconds.

"What?"

He hesitated. Bad move. She grabbed him by the neck, a move she had learned from her father at a tender age, but only started using it a few months ago to gain the respect of the foot-ninja.

"What is so important that it cannot wait until morning? Speak!"

"I'm sorry, Miss Karai… It's just that… A truck, a green armored truck just crashed into the entrance and all the guards on the first floor were taken down by five people in black! They wear ninja-masks and seem to be using Japanese weapons. No guns!"

She arched an eyebrow at him, then tossed him aside and made her way to the control room, her mind wiped clean of thoughts of sleep. The Hamato's truck had been green, and hadn't Leo said something about his brothers thinking about armoring it, but five?

The second she looked at the screens showing the first floor she knew she had been right. She would recognize that sloppy left hook anywhere, mask or not.

"They are no true threat. Do not let them take you by surprise. I trust that you will be able to handle five teenagers. If you should show too much incompetence, however, I will be in the top-floor dojo, and I will personally inform my father. That is all."

She left the room, her face a mask of indifference to hide the turmoil beneath her dark hair. They had come for her. For what reason, she knew not, but they were here. She only hoped that they would survive.

Her father did not take the news well. He threw the table aside and cursed the fact that he hadn't burnt down the Hamato house years ago.

"Why tonight? Do they know?"

"Know what, father?"

He turned and looked at her like he had forgotten she was still in the room. Then he faced the grand windows again and waved his hand in dismissal.

"No matter. The foot-ninjas will take care of this small matter. Stay awake just in case, though, and Karai…"

She halted halfway up from her submissive position on the floor.

"Yes, father?"

"When I call for you, come to the garden. Now leave."

A cold hand gripped her heart, but she ignored it. The situation could not get any worse, she thought wearily. How wrong she was.

"Yes, father."

Oroku Saki looked at the doors when they closed behind his heir. He didn't like this.

"Hun! Make sure that that rat's little spawns don't make it this far. You are healed enough for that, are you not?"

The big bulk behind the screen stood and bowed for his master.

"Of course, sir! I will deal with those annoying little squirts myself."

"Good. I will not let anything interrupt my plans now. I do not have the time to start over."

He waved Hun out and walked over to the dark armor cabinet in the corner of the room. He opened it and smiled as he saw his reflection in the flawless metal.

"Soon. As the sun rises, I will be rid of all this interference. I will never have to deal with petty little problems again. Soon enough, I will be invincible."

"When did you become so good with chains?"

Leo ducked in under the protective swings of the weapon Raph had managed to snatch right out of the hands of one of the ninjas they encountered by the elevators. He crouched down and made sure there was nothing threatening his brother's back.

Coral kicked another ninja into the wall and slammed her hand on the button by the shiny metal doors.

"You didn't tell him? You promised!"

"I also promised to stop drinking from the milk carton and I can only keep so many promises!"

"What did he do?"

Raphael chose this moment to attack in a very loud manner, forcing Leo to get up from his breathing space and get back to kicking ninja-butt. It made Leo certain it was something stupid and dangerous.

As the automatic doors slid open, Raph covered them as they got in. Kicking off the last black ninja the doors shut firmly and they started to move up.

"How do we know they just don't cut the wires?"

"Don't worry, Mike. If they were that desperate they would have cut the power a long time ago. They probably think they can take us. Camera in the corner, Don!"

Donatello pushed his staff up in said corner and the little electronic eye sizzled and shut down. All of them slid down on the floor.

"Who has ninja as security guards?"

"A really paranoid old fart? I knew Saki knew ninjutsu. He taught Karai, after all, but I didn't even dream he had so many other ninja in the house!"

"You still think we can make it?"

They looked at Mikey. He was rubbing his fingers over his nunchaku and he looked a bit scared. It had been a bit of a surprise when the slim men had flooded the hallway. They had managed, but only just barely.

"Too late to turn back now, ain't it bro?"

"What was it that you promised to tell me, by the way?"

Raph gulped and looked away.

"Erm… Let's take that at home, okay?"

"Coral?"

"He's been dressing up in biker clothes and gone around beating up Purple Dragons on his bike at night. That's how he's been practicing with those chains."

"CORAL!"

"RAPH!"

"Almost there…!"

"We are going to have a serious talk when we get home!"

Raph shrugged and stepped out the doors.

"Let's focus on getting your princess back, first!"

A familiar voice startled them all.

"Ah, but to get to the princess, you first have to face the dragon!"

They watched as the giant teen stepped out in the hallway, a big, evil grin all over his face.

"Coral, please tell me Karai's room is the other way…!"

"It is, but I bet she ain't there. If the big lug is at this end, I'm guessing she's in the dojo."

"Clever girl, you are, but you won't get the chance to confirm that theory!"

Raph gave a small laugh of contempt and stepped forward.

"You talk big, but last time we met you weren't so tough!"

Hun growled and pointed to his most hated enemy.

"Last time we met YOU were the one who got busted! I got away!"

Raph laughed again and dropped the chains to the floor and grabbed his zai.

"Last we met you were face down in a dumpster, you big dope! Or did you're memory get a bit foggy when I ran you over?"

Hun's eyes went wide at the sight of the chains and the words coming out of the raven-headed teen's mouth.

"That was YOU?"

"Oh please, who else?"

Raph looked over his shoulder at his comrades.

"It won't take all of us to take him down. Go ahead, you!"

Leo nodded and stepped to the side.

"I told ya, NOBODY PASSES THROUGH!"

"Oh shut up, for once!"

With that, the two crashed together for the thousand time, only now Raph had more backup than usual. Within seconds, Hun had failed his master, and soft feet made their way through the hallway, heading for the dojo.

Karai could feel the presence, coming closer and closer every second. She stayed still. If she could just take them out maybe her father would spare them, let them live in the shame of being defeated. It wasn't like they would ever have a chance against him. It was her last trump card. Oh please, nameless ancestors, let it work.

Splinter's heart almost stopped in his chest. He had thought that the kids had fallen asleep when the only sound he could hear when he woke up was the white noise of the television. The only thing he found in the living room was his youngest sons' girlfriends, curled up together; their hands firmly laced together, tears running down their cheeks.

They looked startled at him, not expecting him to show up so soon, or silently, for that matter.

He didn't need to ask, he knew, and his heart grew cold with fear. He walked over to the girls and patted their heads, mind already running ahead of him.

"Call the police. I will be back soon."

Karai stood as the door slammed open. She left the katana on the floor where she had been sitting. She would not need it yet.

"I am surprised that you are first… I thought for sure it would be Leonardo."

Coral glared at her as Karai turned around to face her.

"Don't worry, hon, he's coming. I'm just here to warm you up."

"Very well then. Hajime, let us begin!"

They both took one step forward.

[A/N: MOAR CLIFFHANGERS! Don't worry, Leo will have his turn! I'm hoping to update before this weekend but it depends on how hard I can puch my poor beta! Comments are so welcome!]


	15. Clash Of The Broken Souls

Clash Of The Broken Souls

Karai watched as the long-haired girl stepped out onto the tatami. Coral had kicked off her shoes in the door and now she pulled off her thick jacket and threw it behind her. As she walked forward, Karai noticed the change in her friend's physique. Her arms and shoulders had swelled up with muscles and her stomach looked hard as rock under the grey fabric of her tank top. Someone had been working out.

Too bad she wasn't the only one.

Karai stepped to the side, circling her. She had to be careful. There was no telling what anger had done to that simple-minded brain. Well, she had definitely gotten stronger.

"What's the matter, Karai? Afraid? Usually you don't even let me breathe before you're all over me!"

Taunting. Did she honestly think it would work? Karai gave no reply and kept her eyes on the shorter girl's torso. Whatever move a fighter makes, it shows on the chest first.

True enough. Coral, never bothering with tactics, rushed straight forward and jumped to kick Karai in the gut. She failed to hit her target, but they had both been expecting that. As she landed, Coral crouched and threw out her leg to sweep away her opponent's feet, only to miss again as the kunoichi jumped in the air and vaulted backwards.

Without bothering to stand, Coral launched after her, keeping low so she wouldn't have to worry about Karai's lethal hands. Well, that was the plan.

Karai crammed her heart into a little black box deep down in her soul and swooped in, palm heading for the other girl's temple. It was blocked by a wrist, but another hand found its way right into Coral's solar plexus.

It was the fight in the school hallway all over again. Karai kicked Coral and watched as she rolled over the straw floor, coming to a stop face down.

"That barely qualifies as a warm up."

Coral growled and pushed herself up off the floor.

"I ain't done yet!"

"Even when you desire to hurt me, you still can not defeat me."

"We'll see!"

Coral she ran straight forward again, a left hook aimed for the pale girl's face. Karai blocked it with ease, but the uppercut came as a surprise. She stumbled backwards, wiping her mouth. Getting Coral to use both hands at the same time had been impossible outside the kitchen for as long as Karai had known her.

The amazement soon wore off as the aspiring chef reverted back to swinging her arms around her like logs. Her kicks where just as good as ever, but not much better than a year ago. So much for training. What are muscles good for if you can't use them, after all?

Karai dodged under one of the aimlessly flailing arms and elbowed Coral in the chest. Just as Karai thought she had sent her on a second tumble down on the floor, a hand grabbed her by the back of her neck and a knee shot up to hit her in the stomach. They both fell and rolled, Coral getting up first and grabbing for Karai..

Karai twisted out of the way and jumped to her feet, only to be greeted by a row of knuckles against her cheekbone. She grabbed the retreating wrist but had to let go almost immediately to save her arm from a powerful kick. The two Asian girls backed away from each other, panting and trying to find a mildly safe path to a quick success.

"Ya know… Part of me hoped this wouldn't work!"

"Why?"

Coral gave a faint, joyless smile.

"'Cause if this works, then you've been underestimating me as long as we've known each other…"

Before Karai had a chance to reply or even think about what the other girl had said, Coral was back in her face with a right hook, then another uppercut, and finally a straight right. They all missed their targets, but they were close enough to just barely graze Karai's skin. As the girl in grey went reverted to kicking, Karai realized that she needed to figure out a way to put an end to this, fast! It was not going well.

_Perhaps I HAVE underestimated her._

The raging fists finally caught up with their prey, landing a blow on Karai's cheek and another on her biceps. As Coral kicked herself away to gain some space, she couldn't help but spill the secret of her newfound coordination.

"Guess ten months of boxing did more for my skills than three years in this dojo! Bad luck for you, eh?"

"I knew that you could not have learned that foul move from a martial-arts teacher…"

"All is fair in love, wars, and gang-fights!"

The long-haired demon was back now, suddenly ramming into the slimmer girl, tipping her over, and pushing her down on the tatami mat.

Karai could hardly believe it! She would never take a victory for granted again, not if Tetsu Sango could pin her to the floor. There she was all the same, face down with a hand deeply fisted in her hair and her arm securely locked under Coral's. A hand gripped her elbow so tightly that Karai felt like it would break.

They both panted, gasping for air. Then, the tight hold in Karai's dark locks lightened slightly and the body straddling hers relaxed a bit. The slight easing, of course, did not include the unyielding grip on her arm. Karai felt the hand on her head slide down to her shoulder, and a little twist of fear glimmered in the back of her mind before she shot it down. She would not fear pain, only defeat.

"What are you waiting for? You came for revenge, did you not?"

Suddenly, the hand on her shoulder disappeared, only to return with a gentle stroke on her cheek. The soft touch surprised her, and Karai could not help but turn her gaze up to meet the eyes of her captor. There was little ill-will glinting in them now. They were almost…

Kind.

"Yeah, I did, and I got it. Whether I hurt you or not, you will never forget that I'm your equal again! I might only have been able to beat you 'cause you didn't have time to figure out my new moves, but I beat you, and it counts!"

Karai's arm was released, and the weight over her waist lifted as Coral stood, one foot on either side of her old friend. Karai turned over to face her previous opponent, her mind trying to figure out what was going on. Defeat meant pain. That was a fact. This was not how it was done.

But the half Chinese girl just smiled at her and placed a hand on her own heaving chest.

"Besides, I'm just the appetizer…"

She held out her hand to the door.

"HE'S the main dish!"

Then Coral walked past the downed girl, moving towards the figure in the doorway. Karai was almost afraid to look, knowing far too well what she would find. She turned her head anyway. Despite the fact that she knew he had come to fight her, a little piece of her heart grew warm at the sight of him.

Leonardo stepped into the room, calm and still like a pond in the moonlight. His swords were drawn and they looked almost pure silver in the light from the windows.

She looked away. Now was not the time. She moved across the floor and picked up her katana, then turned to face him.

"I suppose merely asking you to just leave would be in vain?"

He looked her straight in the eyes, and something in there sent shivers down her spine. Leonardo had grown. He was not the same person he had been.

"Yeah, that wouldn't do you any good. I dragged my friend and family here. leaving with unfinished business is impossible after all the danger I've put them though."

He leaned one of the blades against his shoulder, letting the other arm hang by his side. Karai was not fooled. His guard was on high alert, but she had to hand it to him, he was almost as good as Raphael at looking completely indifferent. Must be a family trait.

"Then let us finish this so I can go to bed."

He didn't reply. He only swung the sword on his shoulder down and took off in a semi-circle towards her.

She waited until he was seven feet away, then drew her own blade just in time to block his and push him back. She stepped after him on feet light as feathers and cut after his neck. He dodged, of course, slicing at her leg with his right and her stomach with his left, forcing her to step back.

Unlike with Coral, Karai could tell that he had improved instantly. There was a new determination in him, a new drive, something that made him a bit bolder. She could feel her resolve crumbling, but she gripped her heart with an iron fist.

_If I fail now, I hurt him for nothing. If I let him face my father, all the pain that I have caused has been in vain._

She let out a battle cry and swung her katana down.

It grazed his cheek, leaving a thin red line running down the skin.

Then he smiled a crooked smile and dove in on her again, locking her sword between them, making it into a battle of strength instead of skill. She grunted as he pushed down on her, but she refused to give up. Leo made a grimace, the line of blood speeding up and running down his neck.

"You really want to beat me? You really want to do this thing all over again?"

Hearing his voice after such a long time rattled her. Karai had to keep reminding herself that this was the only way. She had seen how truly ruthless her father could be. She would not let him sink his claws into Leonardo.

"You are the one that came here! I am the one that should ask that question!"

"Then why are you holding back?"

She forced out adrenalin into her arms and pushed away from him before driving right back in, her one blade against his two.

"What makes you think I am holding back, Leonardo?"

"Because you look like you're about to cry!"

It scared her. He could read her? Even after all this time? Even after all the days and weeks and months she had spent perfecting this mask? She had to prove him wrong! She had to make sure he gave up!

She let out a loud cry and brought her sword up in the falcon's strike, but the one person who could get under her skin was once again about to surprise her.

Much like the last time, Leo dropped his right-hand sword, but this time he ducked in under her guard and caught Karai by the waist.

As she brought her arms down a millisecond later, she missed his body, encircling his neck with her arms, and a pair of warm lips pressed up against her own.

Karai froze solid. Why did her guard become so completely lax around him? Why was it so hard for her to read his movements? Why couldn't she focus even though it was HIS life she was saving?

A year of solitude, only touching people she was hurting or people hurting her, came crashing down on her. She was just a teenage girl, and the boy she loved was holding her close, kissing her breath away. She released her grip on the red handle, the katana falling down, piercing the tatami and the wood beneath it. Her fingers laced themselves into his hair. She had missed him. Surviving without him had been hell.

_He will kill him._

"No!"

With the last of her strength, she pushed him away. She didn't get far, for he refused to let go of her waist. Karai held him by the shoulders, trying to gather her thoughts in the midst of all the newly awakened hormones in her brain.

"Coral had a hunch that you where only doing all this to protect us. So that your father wouldn't hurt us."

She couldn't lie to him, not again, not now. The words wouldn't come. She had thought that those two weeks might have worked as a vaccine, but she was worse off than ever. Soon enough she would start wearing pink, twirl her hair around her finger and, God forbid, giggle!

He slid his hand up between her shoulder blades, pulling her back in so he could lean his cheek against her dark head.

"Is that a yes?"

"If you knew why I was doing this, then why did you come? Why did you not forget about me and move on?"

Leonardo smiled and kissed her soft, glossy hair.

"Because I love you, silly girl."

She had never been called silly before in her entire life. She almost protested, but part of her melted at the soft tone in his voice. It had been so long since anyone had spoken to her with any kindness.

"How can you still love me? After all the hurt I have caused you…"

He stroked her hair, and Karai found herself relaxing at his touch. Even after she realized it, she could not stop it. She was tired of having to be strong. She was so sick of having to hide her feelings. She was good at it, but it was tiring. Much easier to just let her forehead rest against his shoulder and close her eyes.

"Well, in this last year I've grown a lot. Not only that, I've realized how many people I have that support me. I have a lot of friends and family that can catch me when I fall…"

Leo gently stroked her cheek and caught her chin, making Karai look him in the eye.

"But you, you cut all those ties. You pushed away all the people who cared about you just so that we wouldn't get hurt."

He smiled sadly and touched her nose with his.

"Out of all of us, you are the one who has been hurting the most. You're the one that had to endure all this time alone."

She closed her eyes and turned away. She would not let him see her cry. Not now.

Leonardo placed his hand in the back of her neck and leaned her head against his chest. He dropped his other sword (Karai had forgotten he was holding it still) and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"I promised you that I would help you. I'm sorry I'm so late, but I'm here, and I won't leave you again."

His words were like sunshine. They shone right in through her, sweeping away the darkness she had enclosed her heart in. He still loved her. Maybe there was such a thing as miracles.

"I am sorry, Leonardo…"

But she could not let him die, not just for loving her.

"Hum?"

"…I can not let you die at his hands!"

Before Leo could react, a hand clamped down on the pressure point on his shoulder, and the world went black before his eyes.

She watched him fall, spreading out on the tatami. Blood was coloring his cheek, but the wound had stopped bleeding. It took every last bit of self restraint Karai had to walk past him and pull her katana free from it's position in the floor.

Just as she sheathed it, a rasping signal was heard from the intercom by the door. Her father was summoning her.

Karai glanced down at the unconscious boy, then turned away and slid in behind one of the drapes on the wall, deciding not to bother with the public elevator. This time, it was straight for the secret one.

She could not figure out a good plan, at least not at the moment. She needed to get the others out of the building, unharmed. She could not let them be killed. It was not an option.

Little did Karai know that she was the one in mortal danger.

Her first clue was the chain that suddenly wrapped itself around her torso, trapping her arms to her sides and smacking painfully against her ribs.

Karai had felt Hun's presence, but up here in her father's personal garden she had thought herself safe from his brutish ways.

"Hello, doll! How nice of you to drop in!"

He had a nasty bruise on his face and a slight limp, telling her that he had only barely made it away from the other Hamatos.

"What exactly do you think you are doing?"

"He is obeying orders. Something you seem to have difficulty mastering, my dear."

At the new voice, Karai stopped trying to extricate herself from her bindings and watched as her father slid out of the shadows. At least, it sounded like her father. His presence felt different, and he was not in his usual attire.

"Father? What is going on? Why are you in full armor?"

She could see his eyes narrow as he smiled. The rest of his face was covered by a new, strange-looking mask. Had it not been shining like water in a still lake, she would have thought it ancient.

"You ask so many questions, my dear child. Let me explain it to you."

A wave of his armored hand revealed two blades, thin and lethal, attached to his left wrist as he gave the "go ahead" signal to Hun. The big man behind her laughed a low, growling laugh and lifted Karai off her feet to press her down on a granite slab that had been placed there for decoration. At least, she had though it was for decoration.

Karai was not about to let the Neanderthal treat her as he pleased. She tried to kip herself up, but Hun simply grabbed both of her elbows with one of his massive hands and held them down above her head against the hard rock. With the other hand, he tossed the chain carelessly around her legs. She was about to kick it off, but an armored hand caught her leg and pressed it down.

"Now, don't fret, Karai. It will be over soon."

"What will be over? Father! What are you doing?"

"Hush, child. Let me speak."

He stroked her chin, but not nearly as softly or as gently as Leonardo had just moments before. The hard leather in his glove irritated her skin.

"There is a legend, an ancient myth, about a fierce samurai lord who lived a thousand years ago. He laid lands to ruin, destroyed armies with a single sweep of his sword, and he was known as The Shredder!"

Part of her wanted to laugh, but those sharp blades were pressed up against her throat.

"In the end, he was beaten and killed, but his spirit remains. I am his last descendant! The last of his bloodline! Now, a thousand years after his demise, I will call him back!"

Hun's hands nearly broke Karai's arms in two, but still she gave her master her shocked, undivided attention.

Her father was insane. He had gone completely mental. For some reason, Karai felt like the worst was yet to come.

"Do you know for what reason I took you in, Karai?"

For years she had fooled herself into thinking it had been out of the goodness of his heart. Not likely. She shook her head, cursing the weight that made it impossible for her to free her arms. To make matters worse, Saki was still holding tightly to the chain that was wrapped around her legs.

"Because the ritual for bringing the spirit of The Shredder back requires that you sacrifice the blood of your heir! I will cut your throat, and as the sun rises I will drink your blood and become IMMORTAL!"

Oh please, this was beyond ridiculous. Did he honestly believe that that would work? Looking into his eyes, Karai had to guess that yes, he did. There was no sanity left in those glowing red orbs. The only thing left was the empty, ecstatic look of a madman.

No time to be analyzing mental patients, though! Saki was raising his hand to the sky, the lights of New York highlighting the sharpened metal.

"I thank you, Karai, my daughter! This is the final proof of your loyalty!"

She couldn't close her eyes. She was going to die for the stupidest of reasons.

_I couldn't even save them…_

Almost as if in slow-motion, the hand started to move down.

[A/N: I think this is my worst cliffhanger yet… What do you think? X3]


	16. Taiyou

[A/N: It means sunrise...Just so you know! X3]

Taiyou

"I thank you, Karai, my daughter! This is the final proof of your loyalty!"

Her brain screamed at her to move, but Hun was still a guy weighing over two hundred pounds, and there was no time for a plan B. She realized that she was going to die, and it scared her stiff.

The next second, however, the big brute let out a cry of pain and released her, grabbing at his elbow where a thin, metal object with a red handle had dug itself deep into his flesh.

Before Karai had a chance to make use of her newfound freedom, something swooped out of the bushes next to them and tackled her off the table. She heard her father's roar as her savior rolled her out of harm's way.

Her survival instincts being the current ruler of her mind, Karai grabbed the alien body and pinned it down in the silt that covered the roof.

"Hey, take it easy!"

"You?"

The youngest Hamato smiled up at her, blood smeared over his cheek and a nasty bruise on his temple.

"Mikey at yer service, miss! Can you let me up now?"

Another loud scream made her turn her head back to her father. She couldn't see much of him, however, because her vision was blocked by a figure in black who had jumped up on the piece of rock that would have served as a sacrificial altar. Leonardo used the advantage of high ground and the length of his swords to keep the armored man away from him, but he still had to jump in the air as the more experienced man cut at his legs.

The sound of metal against rock told her that Hun had pulled the sai from his arm and was about to rip its owner apart. Michelangelo pulled himself out from underneath her and grabbed the wooden sticks in his belt. Still, he didn't have time to leave her side before she had made a headcount.

"Where is Coral?"

He looked at her, a bit startled by the panic in her voice. Then, he looked to his brother and the blond ogre, torn between reassuring Karai and helping out.

"She's fine! We left her in the dojo! Sprained ankle!"

With that, he took off, not about to let Raph fend for himself while Leonardo and Donatello were busy trying not to get shredded.

Karai forced air into her lungs. She needed to calm down, but her heart was beating like crazy. Being so close to death was not good for anything, but she could make use of the adrenalin. Just as soon as her legs could carry her again.

Coral was fine. She had been immobilized, but she was alive. They would not have left her if she was unable to defend herself. Deep breaths.

Karai pushed herself up and surveyed the situation. What was the best tactical solution?

The most dangerous opponent at the moment was her fath… Oroku Saki. She bit her lip. It would take more then two or three teenagers to take him down, but they could not leave Hun unattended.

_Why am I hesitating? I made this choice a year ago. If I cannot keep them safe, I will at least fight beside them!_

The determined kunoichi took off like a bullet from a gun, stepping up on one of the decorative stones and landing with her heel on a key vein in Hun's neck. He dropped like a sack of flour, almost crushing the other boys. For a moment, she felt like grabbing him by the chin and snapping his neck, just to make sure he didn't get up, but she ultimately decided against it. She stood, meeting the hard glare of Raphael.

They had a lot to work out. She had hurt the two people that mattered the most to him. He didn't care about her reasons; the results were all the same. Fortunately, it was not important at the moment. He was the first to look away, picking up his sai.

"Let's get this over with, then you and I need to talk..!"

She doubted he meant with words, but she said nothing and ran with them towards the second fight.

Mikey was first there, just in time to catch Don as he was pushed back. Raph had to roll out of the way as the blades on Saki's arm almost took his head off. The older man growled at the miss and stepped after his prey.

Karai leaped off the branch of a low, twisted tree and kicked at the metal-clad back. She hit, but not as hard or as accurately as she had hoped. The man who had raised her ducked and she fell to the ground in front of him. Before he had the chance to straighten up again, Donatello swooped in with his bo-staff and aimed at Saki's neck. It was caught by Saki's hand but then released as the madman protected his face from Raphael's zai.

Saki roared in anger and stood, forcing both the brothers back.

Karai was about to throw herself at her father again, unwilling to let him have a moment's rest, when suddenly an arm blocked her way. She was about to push Leonardo out of the way when his hand found hers and she felt the weight of a sword settle against her palm. She looked at him, questioning, but his eyes were settled on the armored man. She grabbed the silk-wrapped handle and took her stance beside him. It felt good, in a way, to have him trust her with his own sword; trust her with a part of his soul.

"I'M 'ONNA TEACH YA NOT TO MESS WITH OUR FAMILY!"

Raph tossed himself into the heat of battle once more, accompanied by Donatello.

The others followed, trying to keep up with the veteran fighter. Karai had never known to the full extent how powerful of a warrior her father was, but she learned quickly. He was fast enough to hold all of them at bay, and he didn't seem to be running out of steam.

She also noticed how brilliantly the brothers had put up their teamwork.

Raphael and Donatello stayed beside each other, just as Leonardo stuck by Michelangelo's side. That made two pairs, both with one long-range weapon and one short-range. It also gave them one hothead and one tactician. Karai doubted that they actually thought about it, for it was probably something they did naturally.

But this was not a training-session. This was real. In real fights, people get hurt.

Raph's hot temper finally got the better of him, and the opening did not pass Saki by. The longhaired boy let out a scream, more from anger than from pain, and fell. Donnie protected him from his aggravator the next second, and Leo roared in to avenge his brother's hurt.

"I have tired of playing with you little children!"

Leo's face collided with an iron-clad fist, and Donnie was kicked into Mikey's chest. Saki then moved for his daughter.

Karai ducked low and cut at his waist. The impact forced him a step sideways, but the blade simply slid against the tough armor. She then cut at his throat, the leather covered part under his mask, but she was blocked by the blades on his wrists. Being both shorter and lighter, she was pushed back against the thick rail that edged the roof, the only thing between her and a concrete kiss.

"I HAVE YOU NOW, LITTLE KARAI!"

A hand grabbed her throat and she was pulled off her feet to hang over the edge of the easily fifty-storey building. Saki's blades swung high in the air and aimed once again at the delicate veins in her neck, determined to extract the lifeblood from her body. Karai could hear Leonardo scream, but the little sparks dashing in front of her eyes kept her from actually seeing him. The lack of oxygen in her brain made it difficult to figure out how to get away without falling off the roof.

"NO!"

Suddenly, a heavy body slammed into hers, the grip on her collar disappeared, and something warm and sticky splashed over her face.

The would-be sacrificial lamb was pulled down to kneel on the safe ground. With the cool air rushing down her lungs, she tried to recover from her second near-death experience within minutes.

"Are you unharmed?"

She stared at the old man that was still holding on to her with one hand and covering the left side of his face with his other.

"Master… Splinter?"

"You bothersome RAT! I WILL KILL YOU THIS TIME!"

Saki got on his feet from where he had fallen. The powerful kick to the tycoon's chest had had saved Karai's neck, but apparently not the old man's face. Blood dripped down between Splinter's fingers at a rapid pace, making Karai's stomach turn with worry.

"DAD!"

Splinter simply wiped the blood from his eye and held up a hand to stop his sons from coming closer.

"Stay right there..!"

He placed one hand on Karai's shoulder and pushed himself up, blood still running from the two wounds on either side of his eye. The brutal claws had just missed his left eye, one of them crossing his eyebrow and both running into his grey hair.

"I will finish this!"

Saki laughed, loud and mocking.

"You think you can beat me, rat? Then by all means, let's dance!"

Splinter took off faster than Karai would have ever guessed, and he moved with a speed and grace that seemed impossible for someone his age. Still, despite his agility, he was almost blind on his left side, and Saki was not about to let such an opportunity go.

"I will not let you harm anyone again! You have caused enough grief!"

"You are in my way! I will destroy you!"

Splinter received a hard blow to the temple on his blinded side, and the upcoming Shredder knocked him against the hard concrete rail, about to gut the grey old man.

"YOU DIE TODAY, OROKU SAKI!"

It was almost like watching a slow-motion action movie as Splinter grabbed Saki by the sash and pulled so hard that both of them tumbled over the edge. A loud shriek exploded in Karai's ears, and it took several seconds before she realize that the voices belonged to the faithful brothers. In those seconds, where the two fathers were still hanging over the edge, not fully caught by the ultimate force of gravity, Karai leaped forward and grabbed for the hand, the one that she could not let fall.

The firm hold of a wrist against her palm sent a burst of relief through her mind. That is, before the laws of nature tugged them both down so hard that she was sure she must have broken a rib against the railing.

Splinter's hand was slippery from blood and it seemed like the blow to his head had caught up to him. She was about to call out, but then several things caught her attention at the same time, totally overwhelming her wracked brain.

The first was the sight of all the white cars with blue and red lights that took up every last inch of the street beneath them. She wondered later how they could have missed the noise of all the sirens in the midst of battle.

The second thing was the figure still falling, his curse overwhelming the other sounds, his hands still greedily grabbing for her.

The third was the sun, suddenly shining over the edge of the rooftops, blinding her for a moment.

Even while blinded, though, Karai could hear when the curse came to an abrupt halt, the sound of metal crashing into metal, the terrified screams; and the faint sound of an empty helmet slowly sliding over hair and landing on the pavement with a faint _clonk_.

It sucked all the energy out of her body, and she almost let go of the limp hand. Then, suddenly, it came to life, and five thin, old fingers wrapped themselves around her wrist. Karai snapped out of her state of nothingness and gripped harder, but she could feel him being pulled out of her grasp. She couldn't heave him up. Not by herself.

Then, loud voices gathered around her and heavy bodies covered hers, hands wrapping over the firm grip and pulling both her and the old man away from danger.

It took Karai several seconds to puzzle together enough of her mind to make a picture of the situation.

She was sitting down on the grass, her back supported by a strong arm and a grey head in her lap. Donatello was on his knees by her side, shirtless and desperately trying to stop the bleeding on his father's head with his purple t-shirt. The hand on the old man's shoulder belonged to the body supporting her, and after a few moments she recognized it as Raphael's. Looking up, she saw Leonardo beside his long-haired brother, his face pale and his eyes wide in fright. Michelangelo was crouching down beside Donatello as small, worried noises made their way out between his clenched teeth.

Then, suddenly, a withered hand covered Donatello's and the head turned to look up at Karai, eyes sober and clear.

"Are you unharmed, miss Karai?"

Her mind told her that she had seconds before her brain shut down, so she stuck to the simplest answer.

"Yes…"

Her voice was thin and hollow, but it still brought a small smile to the old man's lips as he closed his eyes and turned his head back, resting it against her leg. She felt a bit deflated, like a plastic bag in the wind. The image of the falling body was stuck in her mind, threatening to pull her down with it.

To her great surprise, the arm supporting her back pulled her in and gave her half a hug. She snapped her head up and looked at the boy she knew hated her guts.

He looked at her, shrugged, and gave her a lopsided smile.

"Coral is going to eat you, ya know. I've never seen her so pissed before."

It was small talk, and Karai was not really good at it, but Raph was not really expecting her to answer. So, he only snickered and looked away, the tension leaving his body. Karai looked down again, wondering if it had always been so easy to breathe.

They were alive.

It was over.

Karai's brain shut down, and she hardly reacted when the garden was stormed with police officers or when she was helped to her feet and brought down to a waiting police car and taken away from her home.

When she found herself in a small room with nothing but three chairs, a table, and a cup of tea slowly cooling between her hands, she snapped herself back to reality.

"So miss Orok…?"

"Karai."

"I… I'm sorry?"

"It is Karai. Please, carry on."

"Oh… Yeah!"

The officer cleared his throat and looked down at his file. His partner was standing behind him, looking at Karai with a stone-face. Such a typical good-cop-bad-cop team.

"Em, miss Karai, then. Would you like to tell us a bit about your father, and what you might know of his illegal actions?"

"I will. Let me start at the beginning. You see, this all began when my father received an adoptive brother. It is quite a long story, you might want to record it."

She felt a bit sorry for the good-cop guy. He had to leave in the middle, probably to throw up. She was not about to leave out anything, but judging from the look she got from his partner, the entire way Saki had used a mixture of mind-games and well-dosed drugs to literally poison his brother against the Hamatos could have been less detailed in its telling.

When they were done (she had declined taking a break for lunch; she just wanted the whole thing over with), the stone-faced cop placed a big hand on her shoulder as they were leaving the room, nodded at her in sympathy, and then walked after his partner.

She looked after them, thinking of Donatello and Raphael for some reason. Then, she took a deep breath and followed the female officer that was to show her the way to the cafeteria.

The media was going to be all over her the second she set foot outside. She was going to need to build up her strength before that. Things had just gotten difficult. She was now in charge of a multi-million dollar company with branches all over the world, and she was not yet twenty. No worries, though. Compared to the past twelve months, the new tasks ahead were going to be almost enjoyable.

Karai allowed herself a smile, a real smile, for the first time in a long time.

[A/N: No, it is not over! Originaly, I was going to end the story after the next chapter, but since you guys seem to love it so much, there will be two more! Bring on the reviews!]


	17. Path Of Forgiveness

Path of Forgiveness

Humans are creatures of habit. Even the most unorganized person has routines. It is usually small things; like in what order you put the cheese, tomatoes and ham on your sandwich; or in what way you go about cleaning your room. Everyone has routines.

This is because the human brain likes patterns. Patterns are easy to follow and they put less strain on the already overloaded brain. So, when you don't know what to do for a long period of time, you fall into a routine. The brain simply repeats a pattern that is familiar.

A week might not be a long time, but it was enough for the Hamato house to go back to the way it had been before. It brought a small smile to Karai's face to see her old friend sitting outside the open garage on the street, tools and bolts all over the sidewalk and an unpainted motorbike on its stands beside her. Apparently, she and Raphael where trying to fix something with the breaks. Judging from Coral's scraped knees, they had already tested it.

Part of her wanted to go home again, but the skyscraper was closed down, an army of policemen at every door. She had been staying at a place usually used for people seeking witness protection, but today she was free from interviews and hearings, and she HAD to talk to them. There was no getting out of it. There was still a big ball of guilt in her gut. Looking at them now, she wasn't sure if they wanted her to invade their lives again.

Only one way to find out.

"Hello."

Coral almost jumped and looked up at her. Raphael didn't bat an eyelash; he had probably sensed her coming. Not a complete failure as a ninja after all.

"Geez… Took ya long enough!"

Coral stood and patted her hands against the rough fabric of her pants. Not that it did any good, for they remained just as dirty as before. It didn't stop the short girl from setting her arms akimbo and glaring at Karai like a mother who had caught her child with a hand in the cookie-jar.

For a long time, they stood like that. Karai didn't look the other girl straight in the eye, but focused on the little metal objects on the ground. They twinkled slightly in the soft afternoon light.

"Don't you have something to say?"

Finally, Karai dared look up. Meeting Coral's eyes, she found that there was humor in the other girl's gaze, but also hurt and anger. She would have one last chance. Coral would hold out a friendly hand just once more. It was more than Karai figured she deserved.

"I… I wanted to apologize. I know it is not enough, but I cannot do anythi…!"

"Oh, such! You know I can't stand it when you talk all stiff like that! You're sorry and that's okay! I forgive ya! Now stop looking so damn wimpy or I'll throw ya down again!"

Karai blinked at her. Coral was an easy person, but that was TOO easy!

"You would forgive me? Just like that?"

"Yeah! Of course! We're friends, right? Don't get me wrong, I'm gonna rub it in you're face whenever I feel like it, and you have a lot of sucking up to do, but we're still friends and everything is okay! I know why you did all of this, and I read the article they printed with your interview. You just lost everything, and I'm not about to just abandon you."

Karai smiled. Such a simpleton. Coral's friend was alone in the world, so she would let go of all past grudges and support her instead of trying to kill her. It would be nice to spend time with people who did things out of the goodness of their hearts again.

"Besides…"

"Hm? What…?"

Coral scraped the toe of her sneaker on the pavement and looked away with a faint blush.

"I missed you. You civilized me so damn much I can hardly stand to talk to people with the same IQ as myself… It's no challenge."

That deserved a hug.

When the thuggish girl finally grew embarrassed enough, she gently shoved her tall friend away, sitting up on the thick rail on the side of the stair.

"Hey… I ain't the only one you came here to apologize to, am I?"

Karai took a deep breath and turned to the boy who had been awfully quiet during the past few moments. He didn't look back. He just kept poking at something on the other side of the bike.

"No, you are not…"

"Save yer breath, toots. I don' wanna hear it."

"I doubt that you are forgiving me as easily as she is."

Raph sighed and sat up, leaning back a bit and locked eyes with her.

"No, I ain't forgivin' ya that easily. To be honest, I have a good mind to get up and paint the sidewalk with yer insides… But I won't, so never mind."

He looked down again, silently cursing the fact that lately he had to talk so much about what he truly felt about things. It pissed him off. Though, not a much as the fact that it didn't really take much persuasion for him to start gushing about his emotions. Must be Mikey's fault, or probably Leo's.

"So you will not claim any vengeance for the hurt I have caused you?"

"Never said that!"

He looked up again. Eh, what the heck. He was angry enough as it was, no need to make things complicated. He had promised to take it easy, after all. He grinned.

"So if you ever feel like a sparring match, give me a call. I promise I won't go easy on yer ass!"

She smiled and nodded. There would always be tension there, and he would never trust her, but he would not rise against her if she stayed in line. She could read that much in the look he gave her.

One slip, and I will crush you like an ant.

Part of her wanted to take it as a challenge and dare him to try, but most of her felt relief. She would never get the chance to become her father, for Raphael would make sure she was over and done with before she even got started.

Raphael rubbed his nose and pointed lazily at the door with his thumb.

"He said not to bother him, so my guess is that he's meditatin' or sumethin'… Is open so just walk right in…"

"Thank you."

Coral gave her hand a squeeze before Karai started walking up the stairs to the front door. She gave it a slight knock and opened it, slowly moving into the darkness of the unlit hallway.

She heard noise from the top of the stairs and two more teenagers suddenly came tumbling down. Mikey stopped dead in his tracks on the last step when he saw the pale figure that had just removed her shoes. Behind him, Susie abruptly stopped giggling and stared at her with wide eyes.

For a few seconds, Mikey looked like he didn't know what to do about the sudden guest, but then he decided he should just do what he always did.

"Hey! You're here to see Leo, right? He's out in the dojo!"

Just like a year ago, Karai found that it was hard not to smile back when the youngest Hamato lit up his face like that. She bowed slightly and replied in a low tone.

"Yes, but I also hoped to talk to the rest of you. I have not had the chance to thank you yet."

The skater boy jumped down the last step, kicking the pile of shoes to find his own.

"No need! It was the right thing to do. Besides, I save damsels in distress all the time!"

The red-haired girl finally looked away from Karai and snickered.

"You do? How come I never heard of it?"

Mike pulled on his sneakers and beamed at her.

"Cause I'm a superhero, of course! You just don't know it's me when you hear about it!"

"Aha! Okay, Mr. Superhero. We where supposed to get eggs, remember?"

"Oh, yeah!"

He looked over at Karai as Susie sat down and pulled on her sandals.

"You… Em… You know the way right? I mean it's just out back and you've been here before."

The jade-eyed head nodded, and the other two disappeared out the door, Susie giving Karai a tiny smile before closing the door behind them. Perhaps this would not be as hard as Karai had feared. Then again, there was one opinion she cared about more than the others. If she did not receive his forgiveness, she hardly thought she would care much about the rest.

As she passed the kitchen, she found yet another couple, both covered in flour and arguing loudly.

"Yes, it will work! I eat it all the time!"

"But the recipe says…!"

"Don, the world won't collapse just because we use a bit less sugar than the recipe says!"

Just as he was about to answer, Don glanced to the door, noticing that they were not alone. Karai almost smiled as she recognized the same move she had noticed in his brothers when they where faced with her.

They all drew back their shoulders, just a little bit. It was a defensive move, preparing to duck and raise the arms. It was probably something they didn't even think about, it was a reflex when faced with a threat.

She was here to try and convince them she was not someone to be feared anymore.

She looked down and bowed slightly.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion."

She could hear Sidney placing the bowl she had been holding on the counter and, after a few seconds, Donatello gulping and clearing his throat.

"It's… I mean it's not… I mean…"

Not knowing how to place his words, he covered his mouth with a flour-stained hand and sighed. Luckily, Sidney was there to help him out.

"Are you staying for dinner, Karai?"

The friendly and somehow familiar question took the Asian girl aback, and she found herself unable to look the others in the eye. So, she looked at the door leading out to the garden.

"I… Do not know if…"

Don seemed to have recuperated.

"We're having pancakes. Without sugar."

Sidney bumped him gently and stuck out her tongue, making him smile a little smile that he managed to hold as he looked at the dark-haired girl that had hurt his family.

"Splinter is in the garden. He's checking if the strawberries are ripe yet. Why don't you ask him?"

Karai forced herself to meet his gaze, if nothing else than to be polite, and found the same look there as she had in Raphael's eyes.

One slip, and we put you down.

She nodded, both to his words and to his warning. He nodded back and turned to the counter and picked up a paper bag.

"What if we use half the amount? We can't make pancakes without it…!"

Karai found her heart grow a bit lighter as she stepped out on the small, wooden porch on the back of the house. Unlike the one surrounding the dojo, this one was littered with half broken furniture, buckets, empty and filled flowerpots, gardening tools, boxes, and all sorts of other, random things that came with having a big house with five people in it.

By the south fence, there was a gardening section filled with different vegetables and berries, all in neat little lines in the soil. Crouching down in front of it was a familiar figure. She steeled herself and walked over. As she came within a few feet of the old man, a small woven basket was held up to her.

"Will you hold this for me, dear?"

A bit confused, she took it and sat down in the grass as Splinter changed position and continued to look through the green lines for spots of red. His hands moved quickly and precisely, cutting the small fruits off with his thumb nail and gently placing them in the almost-filled basket in her hands.

She sat quielyt, looking at the patchwork of band-aids and compressors that covered the left side of his face. The scratch over his eyebrow had almost healed, leaving a red line that peeked out from under the white bandages. She looked away.

"Master Splinter… I am so sorry…"

The words stopped as a gentle hand stroked her cheek. It was a hand used to comforting, cool fingers and a warm palm. But even so, the guilt remained, and, after a second, she let it show on her face. She would not hide from these people. They would not approve.

"I prefer losing half an ear to letting you get your throat cut. This wound will heal. Compared to what I have done to you, this is nothing."

She looked up, confused, as he turned back to the strawberries.

"You saved me."

"No, I killed your father, and I am sorry for that."

She looked down on the pile in the basket. Of course, he was Leonardo's father after all. He had done to her what her father had done to his own family. The guilt must be eating at him. Karai was certain that if there had been a way, Splinter would have preferred Saki alive, if nothing else than for her sake. The thought of having orphaned a young girl was probably weighing him down more than anything else.

"You saved me, Splinter-san. I know that you would have preferred to do it another way, but I do not. He hurt all the people I care about, and he would have kept doing so for as long as he could have. Please, I am much happier this way. Do not regret what happened."

He looked at her, a hint of doubt in his eyes, but then he smiled and pointed to the second floor of the house.

"Do you see the window with the white curtain?"

She looked up, wondering where he was going with this, and nodded.

"That is the room next to Leonardo's. We use it as a guestroom. I prefer sleeping in the little room next to the kitchen."

She raised an eyebrow. Maybe the hit to his head had not worn off.

"You may stay there anytime you feel like it. Think of it as your home."

With that, he stood and took the little basket from her hands. She met his eyes and saw steel there as well as warmth. He had taken her family from her, so he would offer her a home in return. To Karai it almost felt too good to be true. She allowed a faint smile. Getting back to showing emotion was easier than learning how to hide them, but it still took practice.

"He is in the dojo. I will assume you are staying for dinner. It should be ready soon."

She nodded as the old man made his way back to the house, then she stood and steped up on the porch. She took a deep breath and stepped in through the already open door at the end. This was the test of fire.

He was sitting if front of the little shrine in the other end. The sun shone in through the half-opened doors, making thick lines of light on the otherwise dark floor. Her heart fluttered a bit when she realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt. Then, she pushed down the lovestruck teenager in her and walked over on soft feet.

His breathing was calm and slow, his legs in full lotus and his hands placed on his knees. She knew that he knew she was there, but she didn't feel like disturbing him. So, she stood there, six feet from him, a block of light between them and her eyes fixed at the pale scar over his left shoulder blade. All the events from the past year came running back to her. He had come to save her. At least he didn't hate her. Right?

After what seemed like forever and a day, Leonardo took a deep breath and folded his hands in his lap. Karai stepped closer and sat down behind him, legs tucked in under her body in a neat, practiced seiza, eyes still on the long, white triangle where his skin had been cut open and sewn back.

"You talked to the others?"

"Yes."

"What did they say?"

He probably knew, he had probably talked about it in the past week, but she answered anyway.

"Coral forgave me, for the sake of our old friendship."

"Yeah, I figured."

She shuddered a bit at the warmth in his voice. She wanted him to turn around, to hold her and never let her go again. She bit her lip and kept going.

"Your brothers seem to be leaving it up to you. They made it clear, though, that they will be keeping an eye on me. I'm glad that they will give me that much of a chance."

"Mh."

He noded and fell silent, his back to her still. He must have been training before meditating, for his back was covered with sweat. Karai forced down her emotions along with her blush.

"And you, Leonardo? Have you forgiven me?"

Those were the hardest words she had ever uttered. In the seconds afterward, when he took a deep breath and lowered his head before answering, she couldn't breathe. Her heart almost stopped.

"No. It still hurts to much."

It felt like a physical jab to the gut, like someone had plunged an ice cold blade though her heart. Breath came in small gasps. Karai couldn't keep herself upright, leaning her forehead against his back. Tears welled up in her eyes. Instinctively, she forced them back before letting go again. Oh, what was the point? Like she cared what people would think now. She let them fall, silently, like an early spring morning rain.

"But…"

Her eyes flew open. Was there still just a shard of hope?

"…I love you, so one day, I probably will."

All the emotional turmoil in her settled down in that second. The raging storm that had been her soul for the past twelve months stilled in a heartbeat.

He would forgive her. That was all she would ever ask for. It was more than she would ever hope.

She rested her cheek against the warm skin on his back and gently put her had on his shoulder. After a few seconds, another hand brushed against hers, lacing their fingers together. And even though she could not see his face, she knew he was smiling just as broadly as she was.

[A/N: Still not over! Stay tuned for the last chapter; "The Spring Dance"!]


	18. The Spring Dance

[A/N: Playlist goes as follows; "Only the good die young" by Billy Joel, "Bleeding love" by Leona Lewis, "Hey soul sister" by Train and "Iris" by Goo goo dolls. It's a dance, there is music! X3]

The Spring Dance

"I do not like this…"

"Eh? Why not?"

Karai eyed Coral, who was smiling with the most devious grin Karai had ever seen. The short girl was carrying at least ten paper bags, not unusual for Coral on a trip to the Hamato house, but these did not contain food, movies, or anything like she usually brought. Karai recognized some of the labels on the sides.

"What is that in the bags?"

The grin grew (if that was even possible) even larger.

"Dresses!"

A chill went down Karai's spine as she asked, though she could guess the answer.

"Why did you bring a bunch of dresses? You never wear anything but pants."

"They ain't for me, hon!"

"I was afraid you would say that…."

Despite her cold welcoming, Karai did not mind all too much. She was happy to be forgiven by her friend, and being Coral's dress-up doll for a few hours was something she could lower herself to. As strange as it might sound, Coral had an amazing fashion sense. All the items in the bags were black, more or less. She knew Karai would never wear anything too bright in public, so there was no use even trying.

"How did you afford all this?"

"You only get one! I'm returning the rest. Think of it as a late Christmas slash birthday gift! I didn't give you one this year, remember?"

"I did not get you anything, either…"

Coral smirked and tossed one of the long garments at her.

"I know. That's why I'm picking what you're gonna wear to the dance, and you're not allowed to object!"

When Karai spoke again, she didn't even bother trying to hide the hint of panic in her voice, knowing it would please her friend. The sooner she Coral pleased, the sooner she would let her go.

"Now, remember that I will be seen with you. Nothing too eye-catching, please."

Coral nodded. Karai smiled faintly and took a closer look at the dress in her hands. Almost immediately she bit her lip and handed it back to Coral.

"I can not wear this one…"

"At least try it on!"

"No. It will not look good."

"Karai!"

"No."

Coral sighed and changed tactics, knowing better than to just keep bickering.

"Why not? What's wrong with it? You've worn lower cuts than that before."

Karai looked at the open back of the dress. No, it would not look good on her. A year ago it would have been stunning, but not now.

"Things have changed."

"Karai… Are you worrying about your figure? 'Cause if ya are, I'm 'onna hit you."

"You spend too much time with your boy. You are starting to talk like him."

"Karai!"

She took a deep breath and looked her long-haired friend in the eyes. Silently cursing Coral's stubborn nature, Karai turned around, facing the mirror hanging on the door. The rest of the room was still bare, since it was so rarely used. Splinter had told her that she could change whatever she wanted in there, but she had yet to do more than unpack her clothes. She still felt like a stranger in the Hamato house.

"Promise me you will not overreact."

Coral grunted and crossed her arms.

"I'll do my best, but if you have to ask _that_, I'm guessing it's more than a few extra pou… Shit…!"

With her eyes closed, Karai sensed more than heard Coral's breath suddenly stop as she was faced with the scarred back of her friend. Coral stared in absolute shock at the white, crisscrossing lash-lines that threaded across Karai's muscular shoulders. After a few seconds, Coral's aura started flaring up with anger, growing for every gust of air drawn in by her panting lungs. Then, it exploded, and there was a loud bang as the boxer's hand hit the wall. Karai turned, feeling exposed with only a bra to cover her top half. Her friend supported herself against her knuckles, growling what might have been curses aimed for the other side.

"That damned… Bastard! He's so damn lucky he's DEAD!"

Karai had no doubt that the revenge Coral would have unleashed on her father could make a seasoned torturer arch an eyebrow or two in admiration, but Oroku Saki was gone, so the poor wall had to suffer a few more not-so-gentle-pats before the girl had calmed enough to breathe properly. Karai dropped her shirt on the bed and placed her hand on her friend's shoulder. Seeing her so angry touched her a little bit, reminding her that she still had a caring and loyal friend in Coral.

"Bastard… Sick bastard… I hope he burns in the deepest pit of hell."

"I think he does. Now calm down."

As ordered, Coral took a deep breath and looked up at Karai again. She noticed another permanent mark on the pale skin.

"Sick bastard…"

Karai watched as Coral's tanned fingers gently brushed against the dark red brand on her white chest, covering the raised design that had been the symbol of her father's clan for centuries and then the symbol for "The Foot". Coral tanned in such a soft color, like caramel ice cream. Karai placed her own pale fingers over her friends', covering the mark of her father. Coral's lip was shivering, her eyes glossy with tears.

"Damn you, Karai… Suffering through all of this alone… I'm so mad at you."

Karai didn't reply, just gripped the hand tighter. both of them wished that the mark would be gone when they let go, but the world is cruel and there are no magic fixes. The three-toed foot symbol remained burned into Karai's skin. Coral composed herself and stepped back.

"Okay, no open backs! No worries!"

Smiling got easier and easier now that Karai was realizing that he was finally gone. It got easier and easier for every day she spent away from the towering dark building that had been her home.

"Thank you."

Coral rubbed her nose and looked up through her messy bangs.

"Does Leo know?"

Karai shook her head. The only one that knew was Splinter, since he was signing up as her guardian. She had no idea how to tell Leonardo exactly what she had been through.

"You should tell him. Soon!"

"Now where have I heard that before?"

Coral looked like her with a vacant expression. Karai smiled and sat down on the bed.

"Never mind. I will, but not this weekend. Even though he's not performing with the others, he is still nervous."

"Yeah! Such a worry-wart he is!"

Coral gently shoved Karai to her feet and started digging through the pile of dresses again.

"Let's make sure he at least has a nice girl on his arm. One less worry!"

"I have half a mind to send you home to change. Couldn't you have worn something that is NOT torn somewhere?"

"Sorry, bro! Gotta protect my image!"

"What image? That you're clumsy and don't know when to throw your clothes out?"

"Keep pushin', Leo, keep pushin'!"

Mikey and Don looked at each other and sighed heavily. Everything was back to normal.

The stage was all set and their classmates had begun filling the gym. All that was missing were the girls.

"I wonder how long it takes for a girl to get dressed...?"

"Then times that by four…"

"Coral gets it done in thirty seconds... Tha's all I know."

"You timed her?"

"No, but Mikey was singing on the way up the stairs so I timed it from how far he got!"

His brothers stared at him for a few seconds before Mike had to ask.

"Why was she getting dressed while I was walking up the stai...Oh!"

Leo sighed in his "We are going to talk about this later" way, Don in his "We honestly share the same DNA?" way, and Mike blushed like a tomato while Raph laughed until he almost fell off the small wall outside the gym that they were sitting on.

"They seem to have started the party without us. How rude of them!"

The four boys looked over at the group that had approached them. Raph placed his fingers between his lips and blew two short notes.

Sidney and Susie giggled as they all mingled together, Coral dropping down into Raph's knee. Leo smiled gently at Karai and looked her over.

"It's nice." He told her bashfully "I've never seen you in blue before."

Karai smiled at him, looking away from his eyes. Coral had picked a heart-cut black dress with blue, baby pearl embroideries on it. Mrs. Tetsu had lent Karai her sapphire earrings and a thin silver necklace to match. It didn't look too shabby in any way.

"Thank you."

"I never thought my date to the dance would be wearing pants…"

"Are you complaining, Raph?"

"Considering how good they make your ass look, no."

"Raph!"

"Bro, if she ain't offended, you shouldn't be either!"

There was laughing and teasing and it was not as bad as Karai had feared. Sure, she received her expected dosage of strange looks as they entered, but Leo's arm around hers kept her distracted from them. She did not care what they thought of her. The ones she cared about had forgiven her or were willing to do so when they had gotten over the hurt she had caused them. It was good enough. It was all she cared about.

But still, Karai was not a huge fan of social events, and she quickly selected a table where she could sit and watch the girls swing around on the dance floor. She had no intention of joining them. She wouldn't even be here if Leonardo had not asked her to come.

She still didn't know if it meant that he had forgiven her, but in all honesty it didn't make that big of a difference. He would tell her when he was ready. They had all the time in the world.

He sat with her for the first twenty minutes, but then Coral (the vulture) swooped down and said that just because Karai wasn't dancing didn't mean that Leo had to sit still all evening. Karai nodded in agreement, knowing that if Leo didn't dance with Coral, she would force Karai up onto the dance floor.

He smiled softly at her and touched her shoulder before he let himself be dragged off. Karai could not help but smile when she saw the other two girls flock around him, seemingly trying to figure out if he could dance with all three of them at the same time.

Raph smiled as the song came to an end. He was still a bit nervous. He had always thought that it would be the fearless leader who would be doing the vocals for this, or at least Donnie. But no, they said Raph should do it! No use trying to pile it on Mike; he couldn't hold a tune to save his life. So there he was, but at least he had figured out a way to get back at his brothers. He looked over at Mikey behind the drum set and winked. Mikey grinned and nodded back.

"What song now, Raph?"

He held up a hand at Donnie.

"Just follow my lead."

He had no idea why Donnie looked so worried when he turned back to the mike and cleared his throat.

"Yeah! Sorry to interrupt, but I just wanna say a few things before we get right back to the jammin' and all that!"

He didn't bother to wait until the mumbles died down.

"This year has been a tough one on me and my family, and I haven't dealt with it as well as I should have. So first thing is that I want to apologize to everyone in this school for being such a bastard this year. Sorry!"

It amused him to no end to see all the people in the room stare at him like he was a UFO, including his brothers. Maybe he should apologize more often.

"Second is that I want to congratulate my brothers for finally hookin' up wit' some nice girls! Some REALLY nice girls! Give them a cheer for that, will ya?"

The still slightly stunned audience happily obliged to his wish and in a second the gym was filled with clapping hands and loud voices. Don glared at him and mimed "I'm going to get you for this!" To which Raph only replied with a smirk and a low "I ain't done yet, bro!"

Finding way to much joy in seeing Donnie's panicked face, he turned back to the mike.

"So, these next copula' songs are for the lovely ladies that actually put up with my insane brothers! And since Don can't seem to wait, this first one is for you, Sid!"

Funny how they had the same panicky look in their eyes. He hoped they could pull this song off without having practiced it for a year, but they had managed it well back then so let's pray it's like riding a bicycle. Knowing fully well things don't work like that, Raphael waited for the piano-intro he had told the sound-guy to play run its length, then Mikey hit the drums.

By now, Don knew exactly what song it was, and he was going to kill his brother for this.

"_Come out Virginia_

_Don't let me wait!_

_You Catholic girls start much too late!_

_Oh, but sooner or later, it comes down to faith_

_I might as well be the one…_

_Well they showed you a statue_

_Told you to pray!_

_Built you a temple and locked you away!_

_Ah, but they never told you the price that you pay!_

_The things that you might have done…_

_Darlin' ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG!"_

Sidney had snuck away from the crowd and sat herself beside Karai, one hand covering her eyes and the other with a firm grip around her waist. Even though she was so red that it clashed horribly with her dark purple dress, she was still smiling, and after a while she looked up again.

"_You might have heard I run with a dangerous crowd_

_We ain't too pretty we ain't too proud!_

_We might be laughing a bit too loud_

_But that never hurt no one…"_

It was kind of fun to watch him, since he was obviously doing his best to imitate the original singer, being all 80-ish and making funny faces in the mike. Even Don had stopped looking vengeful and was smiling just as much as his brothers.

"_So COME ON Virginia_

_Show me a sign!_

_Send up a signal I'll throw you a line_

_That stained white curtain yer hidin' behind_

_Never lets in the sun…_

_Darlin' ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG!"_

Don remembered the month they had practiced like morons to master this song. It had been so much fun. It was filled with opportunities to freak out and fool around and make cool poses. It had stuck with him, and he remembered every tune.

"_You got a nice white dress and a party on you're confirmation!_

_Yo-ou got a brand new soul…_

_And a cross of gold…_

_But Virginia they didn't give you quite enough INFORMATION!_

_Yo-ou didn't count on me…_

_(gotta find this part…)_

_Oh oh oh…!"_

The dancing teens on the floor where twirling around like crazy hens, skirts and feet and hair ornaments everywhere.

"_They say there's a heaven _

_For those who will wait_

_Some say it's better but I say it ain't!_

_I'd rather laugh with the sinners and CRY with the saints!"_

This is where Raph managed to find the girl he was singing to, and looked her teasingly in the eyes.

"_The sinners are much more fun…_

_You know that ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG!"_

In place of what would have been a trumpet-solo, there was now Mikey, going completely mad on his drum set, making the crowd wild to the point where they screamed so loud it almost overpowered the music, but Raphy had big lungs.

"_Your mother told you all that I could give you was a REPUTATION!_

_Ah, she never cared for me_

_Did she ever say a prayer for me?_

_Oh oh oh Come out come out come out Virginia don't let me wait!_

_You Catholic girls start much too late_

_Sooner or later it comes down to faith!_

_I might as well be the one…_

_You know that ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG!"_

Karai smiled leaned over to whisper to the still slightly red girl.

"I suppose that is his way of showing he appreciates us…"

"Yeah… Just wish he didn't have to do it so loudly…"

"I heard that Donatello did something similar, though..!"

Sidney looked over, and for a second she almost didn't recognize the girl next to her. Somehow she had changed. She wasn't the same as she had been the year before. She wasn't the same as she had been a week ago, either. She had grown in some way. Maybe it was because she had finally been given the space, without fear that someone would strike her down. Sidney smiled back.

"I'd put out that smile if I were you. He's bound to have one for you too…!"

Then Raphael's loud voice made it through the noise of the crowd.

"Now, Sid is a very special girl, and I'm going to be so bold as to ask you to get yer nice toosh up he… Aotch, don't hit me Don! Ehem… Sidney, get up here! Come on… Or I'll get these people chanting yer name!"

Sidney didn't even argue after that threat, but made her way straight threw the maze of people.

"Ah, there we go! Don't worry, hon, you know this one! I'll even get ya started!"

The lights dimmed down as the boys on stage slowly let out the fist tunes to what appeared to be slow dance. Karai watched as Sidney climbed the steps next to the stage and walked out to the mike Raph offered her. It had been a long time since Karai had heard her sing.

"_Trying hard not to hear  
But they talk so loud  
Their piercing sounds fill my ears  
Try to fill me with doubt  
Yet I know that the goal  
Is to keep me from fa-alling!"_

At this moment Coral popped up beside her and pulled her short-haired friend up. Smiling, she kept tugging her arms, but Karai didn't feel like dancing. She could do it, quite well, too, but she never liked it. It was just another thing her father had taught her to do so she would be perfect for him. Coral made a grumpy face but decided to let it slide for a hug.

_"But nothing's greater  
Than the rush that comes with your embrace  
And in this world of loneliness  
I se-e your face  
Yet everyone around me  
Thinks that I'm going cra-azy!_

_Maybe, maybe…"_

Karai took that moment that Coral's arms seemed dead set on braking her ribs to take in the scents she had missed during the past months. The smell of Chinese cuisine and motor oil and that dull, slightly sweet aroma that was Coral's own. Finally, she was released, and, with a joking punch on Karai's arm, the short girl turned and made her way through the crowd to find some other potential dance-partner.  
_  
"But I don't care what they say  
I'm in love with you  
They try to pull me away  
But they don't know the truth  
My heart's crippled by the vein  
That I keep on closing  
You cut me open and I_

_Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
I keep bleeding  
I keep, keep bleeding love  
Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
You cut me open…"_

Karai didn't sit back down, but stood and watched the stage, letting her mind wander and her soul be calmed by the gentle atmosphere. She still sensed him, though, coming closer.

_"And it's draining all of me  
Oh they find it hard to believe  
I'll be wearing these scars  
For everyone to se-e…!"_

However, it still surprised her when, instead of just tapping her shoulder, Leonardo wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling back close to his chest, and whispering the very same words in her ear that Sidney was singing.

"_I don't care what they say  
I'm in love with you  
They try to pull me away  
But they don't know the truth  
My heart's crippled by the vein  
That I keep on closing…"_

His lips brushed against the lobe of her ear, making her knees tremble slightly, but then he turned her around and looked her in the eye. She didn't have to think about it; she smiled back. She didn't even protest when she was slowly eased out amongst the other dancing teenagers. As if she would protest against being able to be so close to him, to rest her cheek against his shoulder and feel his breath on her neck.

"_You cut me open and I  
Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
I keep bleeding  
I keep, keep bleeding love  
Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love…"_

No cheers after this song, but that was more because people seemed more dazed and amazed than disapproving. Leonardo didn't let her go, and Karai did not move away.

"Yeah, forgot ta' mention who that one was for, but I see my bro got the idea anyway! Way to go, pretty boy!"

Karai snickered as she more felt than heard Leo's low growl. They still didn't let go though, just stayed like before.

"Ok! Mikey wanted to play this one, so this one's for you, Sue!"

Leo kept moving her over the floorboards, not really caring about the fact that this song had a bit of a faster pace. Karai, on the other hand, kept her eyes closed and just let herself be taken far away where scars faded away and all sins where forgiven.

"_Hey soul sister!_

_Hey that mister mister_

_On the radio, stereo_

_The way you move ain't fair you know!_

_Hey soul sister…_

_I don't wanna miss a single thing you do-o_

_Tonight!"_

The chanting and the clapping kept going even after the last tunes were played, but Raphael pressed down the slight panic for what he was about to do, and made his voice heard.

"Okay! Those were for the amazing women putting up with my looser brothers! Can't thank ya enough for that…!"

He gripped the mike tightly and flipped a coin in his mind. Heads, it works, tails, she gets pissed. Pray for luck.

"But this one, this one is for my own girl! For my red gem, my little fighter! For the girl that, the second she gets out of collage, I'm marrying, damnit!"

Karai looked up, shocked. She wasn't the only one either. Most the students were listening and cheering. She looked around. She wanted to see her friend's face after hearing something like that.

"_And I'd give up forever to touch you_

_Cause I know that you feel me somehow…_

_You're the closest to heaven_

_That I'll ever be_

_And I don't want to go home right now…"_

Leo suddenly turned her face back towards him and kissed her forehead. He smiled at her and held her a bit closer, not willing to let her run off just yet. It was hard to say no to his big pleading eyes. Too hard. Coral was a big girl. Karai put her cheek back on his shoulder again.

"_And I don't want the world to see me!_

_Cause I don't think that they'd understand_

_When everything's meant to be broken_

_I just want you to know who I am…!"_

She found her friend later, when she stepped outside for some fresh air. Raph had finally caved and called Leo up on stage to take over. Karai had watched them for a while, but oxygen was running out between the masses of bodies, so she made a bee-line for the door.

Coral was on the little wall that they had found the boys sitting on hours before. The sun had set and the decorative lighting made the place look like something out of a fairy-tale. Karai walked over and sat down beside her.

"You were just proposed to, congratulations."

Coral took a deep breath through her nose, making Karai think that she had been crying not too long ago.

"Thanks, Kara."

She knew how much Karai hated it when she shortened down her name like that, but she allowed it just this once.

"I really didn't see it commin', ya know! I didn't even dream he was thinking about stuff like that!"

Karai smiled as she saw the huge grin that spread itself over Coral's flushed face. It seemed like everyone was happy tonight.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Coral shook her head and looked teasingly at her best friend.

"If I start I won't stop 'till sunrise, and I doubt you'll put up with me for that long!"

"Point, then I have something else I want to tell you."

"Hm? You proposing too? Sorry, I can only marry so many people!"

Karai shot her a glare, but the only response was a giggle. Karai sighed and kicked off her shoes. Those things hurt like crazy after a few hours, but she couldn't have worn boots in this dress.

"I wanted to thank you for being my friend."

"We've been through this…!"

"I am not speaking of your irrational forgiveness. I mean that I thank you for bothering in the first place. Your friendship is something I treasure, something I missed dearly when I thought it lost and, I believe that without it, I would have been a very different person."

"Different how?"

Typical Coral not to get embarrassed until she had a chance to think it over.

"I would probably have been a lot colder and a lot more lonely."

Coral hissed a bit and threw her hair over her shoulder.

"You should save speeches like that for Leo. They don't work on me!"

Karai noted the blush on her friend's cheeks and let it go. She had said what she should have said years ago. That was all that mattered.

No, there was one more thing.

"Coral?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you hate your first name so much?"

Coral scratched her nose and grinned.

"That's a long and boring story…"

"I am not in the hurry to get back to the dance floor…"

Karai waved at her sore feet.

"And it is nice and cool out here. I have time for your silly stories."

"That's a first…!"

Despite her words, Coral still smiled and turned so she was facing her friend and started telling.

"Ya see, it was way back in kindergarten…!"

In that moment, Karai didn't think she could have been more content even if she had found herself in Nirvana.

The End.

[A/N: No, you never get to know! I'm evil that way! XD  
It feels a bit sureal to type in the ending notes on this, cause it's the first writen work that I have ever completed! I want to thank Chao-pal for being pure amazing and betaing this ENTIRE story! (it's exactly 200 pages btw…) I love you forever! I also want to thank all the pepole who read this far, and especialy those who commented and pushed me along! Having fans is awesome, yes! XP

I'm thinking about doing a "Directors Cut" type of thing, and make a drabble colection of all the little scenes that just didn't fit in the main story, so if you have requests, things you want to know how they went down in detail, voice em here! In the name of shameless adverticing I now ask you to go to my DA, same username, and have a look at the art for this story I'm gonna put up as soon as I finish it! I take requets for those too BTW! ;P

Thanx for sticking by me and see ya next time! #T]


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